UBS Group Lowers Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $55.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at UBS Group from $60.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.71% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL traded down $0.35 on Thursday, hitting $49.23. 145,374 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,645,103. The firm has a market cap of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 3.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. Ball has a twelve month low of $49.03 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. 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 business earned $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ball by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 7,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 284,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,669,000 after acquiring an additional 9,138 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $460,000. Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 63.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,875,000 after acquiring an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dempze Nancy E lifted its position in shares of Ball by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 34,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.