Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target Cut to $61.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $72.00 to $61.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Ball Stock Up 0.2 %

Ball stock opened at $51.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $55.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.07. Ball has a 1-year low of $50.76 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $2,401,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Ball by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after acquiring an additional 5,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 75,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,186,000 after acquiring an additional 39,100 shares during the period. 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.