Ball (NYSE:BALL) Shares Down 5% – Should You Sell?

Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)’s share price fell 5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $46.06 and last traded at $46.5250. 534,389 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 2,613,386 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ball in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.33.

Ball Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.86. The firm has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02. Ball had a return on equity of 16.81% and a net margin of 4.49%.The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.52%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total transaction of $175,270.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,355.80. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball in the second quarter worth $192,463,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ball by 44.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,002,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453,630 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Ball by 548.7% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,816,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,906,000 after buying an additional 1,536,751 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 1,465.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,746,000 after buying an additional 1,230,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the first quarter valued at about $47,606,000. 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.