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

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $70.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 34.25% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on BALL. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.17.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.14. 784,848 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,546,261. Ball has a 12 month low of $50.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.21 and a 200 day moving average of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a PE ratio of 3.92, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its stake in shares of Ball by 1,335.8% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3,599.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 317,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,494,000 after buying an additional 308,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Ball by 402.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after buying an additional 212,430 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.