Ball (NYSE:BALL) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Ball (NYSE:BALL) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS.

Ball Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Ball stock traded up $0.22 on Friday, hitting $64.76. 2,380,943 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,638,834. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.55 and its 200 day moving average is $63.99. The stock has a market cap of $20.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.87, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.02%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.81% 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.