Robert W. Baird Boosts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $70.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $71.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a sell rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Ball Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE BALL opened at $67.98 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.55. The company has a market capitalization of $21.46 billion, a PE ratio of 5.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Ball has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,372,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,022,000. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,909 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after acquiring an additional 998,527 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Ball by 146.6% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,470,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,730,000 after purchasing an additional 874,325 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.