Ball (NYSE:BALL) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

Ball (NYSE:BALL) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $58.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $62.00. UBS Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.52% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.00.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $52.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.81. The company has a market capitalization of $15.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.92, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 298.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $774,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ball by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 364,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,967 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $504,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,195,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ball

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.