Ball (NYSE:BALL) Raised to Buy at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $76.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $67.00.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BALL. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $69.54.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $60.02 on Tuesday. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.26.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ball

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Ball by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after buying an additional 998,527 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Ball by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,252,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,020,000 after acquiring an additional 143,005 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 1st quarter valued at $1,973,000. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its holdings in Ball by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 1,128,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,438,000 after purchasing an additional 78,402 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Ball by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. now owns 816,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,379,000 after purchasing an additional 199,885 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently 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.