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

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $57.79.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ball from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ball from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Bank of America cut Ball from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th.

Ball Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE BALL opened at $52.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $16.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.80. Ball has a one year low of $46.00 and a one year high of $62.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $55.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.77.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.43% and a net margin of 5.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ball will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is 31.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other Ball news, VP Deron Goodwin sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.85, for a total value of $26,425.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,252.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Deron Goodwin sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.85, for a total transaction of $26,425.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $634,252.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David A. Kaufman sold 3,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.41, for a total transaction of $200,206.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,861 shares in the company, valued at $464,405.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Ball by 66.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,830,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $817,294,000 after acquiring an additional 5,903,021 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 16.6% during the first quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 20,204,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,453,000 after buying an additional 2,878,786 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $139,189,000. Vulcan Value Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $123,089,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $90,616,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.79% of the company’s stock.

Ball Company Profile

Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging North and Central America, Beverage Packaging South America, Beverage Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Aerospace. The Beverage Packaging North and Central America segment includes multi-year supply contracts to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.