Ball (NYSE:BALL) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $76.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $67.00.

BALL has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.54.

Ball Stock Up 0.7 %

BALL opened at $61.07 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $18.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.56, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.90. Ball has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.25.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ball will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.