Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.58.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Ball from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $61.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, April 12th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company.

Ball Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $65.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.68. Ball has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $67.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. 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.