Zacks Research Has Bearish Forecast for Ball Q1 Earnings

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research dropped their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ball in a research note issued on Friday, April 4th. Zacks Research analyst S. Deb now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.69 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.70. The consensus estimate for Ball’s current full-year earnings is $3.48 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ball’s Q2 2025 earnings at $0.84 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.88 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.45 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $0.99 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BALL. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.20.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $47.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball has a 52 week low of $46.14 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.20. The company has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its stake in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its position in Ball by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Ball by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball Company Profile

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.