Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $70.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $59.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

BALL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group began coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a sell rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reissued an equal weight rating and set a $71.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ball from an underperform rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.15.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $68.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.78. The company has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.87. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for 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%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jag Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,521,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.