Ball (NYSE:BALL) PT Raised to $69.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $69.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 0.82% from the company’s previous close.

BALL has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.08.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $69.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Ball has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $65.45 and its 200 day moving average is $58.48.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 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 firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.