Ball (NYSE:BALL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Ball (NYSE:BALL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $4.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.37. 2,962,982 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,842,758. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.78. The company has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.89. Ball has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $70.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ball in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Ball to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.58.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.