Morgan Stanley Cuts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $70.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.50.

Ball Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $50.46 on Wednesday. Ball has a 52-week low of $50.44 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.81, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $55.75 and its 200-day moving average is $61.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after buying an additional 87,120 shares during the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth about $1,825,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,111,000 after acquiring an additional 18,327 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.