Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $77.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $80.00 to $77.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on BALL. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $69.08.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock traded up $0.62 during trading on Monday, hitting $63.30. 1,600,216 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,941,383. Ball has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were 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 directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,479,000. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,527,000 after acquiring an additional 998,527 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Ball by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,453,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,917,000 after acquiring an additional 58,863 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,973,000. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in Ball by 7.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 78,402 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.