Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.75.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $55.83 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 12-month low of $54.06 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 4.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ball by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,139,000 after buying an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently 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.