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

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 36.52% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BALL. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial cut 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. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.50.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.07. Ball has a 1-year low of $50.76 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.87, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 lifted its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 87,120 shares during the period. Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,825,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.