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

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.17.

Ball Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $51.12 on Wednesday. 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 $50.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.86, a P/E/G 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 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.