Ball (NYSE:BALL) Earns "Neutral" Rating from Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their neutral rating on shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. Bank of America currently has a $66.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $67.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.36.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $58.56. 484,496 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,695,188. Ball has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12. The firm has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.08. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $54.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Ball's payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 66.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 37,439 shares of the company's stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 14,958 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at about $453,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at about $361,000. New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at about $632,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Ball by 26.2% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. 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.