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

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.75.

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

Ball Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BALL opened at $54.03 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.12 billion, a PE ratio of 4.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. Ball has a 12-month low of $53.85 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Ball by 598.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ball by 334.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is 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.