Ball's (BALL) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

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

BALL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.36.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $58.30. 1,691,300 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,221,140. Ball has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $68.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Ball by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company's stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,401,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Ball by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,302,923 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,742,000 after acquiring an additional 301,246 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Ball by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,952 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

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.