Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $56.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target cut by UBS Group from $57.00 to $56.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BALL. Mizuho upped their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial upgraded Ball from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.08.

Ball Price Performance

BALL opened at $61.04 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.90 and a 200 day moving average of $63.60. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. 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 P/E ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Insider Activity at Ball

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.