JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades Ball (NYSE:BALL) to Overweight

Key Points

• JPMorgan upgraded Ball to “overweight” from “neutral” and set a $65 price target, implying approximately 6.98% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Analysts overall maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with nine Buy, three Hold, and one Sell rating; the average price target is $71.69.
• Ball exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.03 in earnings per share versus a $0.99 estimate and $4 billion in revenue, up 19.7% year over year.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $65.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.98% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Mizuho set a $72.00 price target on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered shares of Ball from a "buy" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $71.69.

Ball Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of BALL stock opened at $60.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Ball has a 1 year low of $44.83 and a 1 year high of $68.29.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Ball had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Ball has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.930- EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ball will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Mandy Glew sold 5,626 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total transaction of $358,938.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $459,934.20. This represents a 43.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the second quarter worth approximately $1,310,991,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ball by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,225,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $382,742,000 after buying an additional 266,238 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,999,409 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,605,000 after purchasing an additional 340,677 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $178,025,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter worth about $163,768,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Company Profile

Ball Corporation NYSE: BALL is a global manufacturer of sustainable aluminum packaging products. The company primarily serves the beverage, personal care and household-product industries, producing aluminum beverage cans, bottles, aerosol containers and related packaging solutions. Its products are used by brand owners and manufacturers across a range of consumer markets.

Founded in 1880 as a manufacturer of glass containers, Ball gradually transitioned toward metal packaging and became best known for its aluminum beverage-can business.

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