Analysts Set Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Price Target at $61.00

Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Ball Stock Up 0.1%

BALL traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $53.58. 5,447,727 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,208,826. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $14.86 billion, a PE ratio of 4.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $70.07. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $50.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.51.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is 47.62%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Ball by 44.2% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,002,327 shares of the company's stock worth $416,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453,630 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,370,274 shares of the company's stock worth $227,560,000 after buying an additional 210,838 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $190,105,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ball by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,370,532 shares of the company's stock worth $175,480,000 after buying an additional 315,091 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.