Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target Raised to $50.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underweight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential downside of 2.49% from the company's previous close.

BALL has been the subject of several other reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.70.

Ball Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BALL traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.28. The company had a trading volume of 253,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,115,868. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.55. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $70.97.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 1.6% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 77,132 shares of the company's stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.2% in the first quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 28,127 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Ball by 5.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 72,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,767,000 after buying an additional 3,435 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 12.6% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,132 shares of the company's stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in Ball in the first quarter worth about $654,000. 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.

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