Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $64.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $64.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BALL. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an equal weight rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ball from an underperform rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $68.85.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $60.43 on Thursday. Ball has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Ball by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 0.7% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Ball by 0.9% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.