Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $78.00 Price Target at Loop Capital

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Loop Capital from $83.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.40.

Ball Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE BALL traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $52.18. 1,711,318 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,126,515. Ball has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.33. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of 4.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Ball's payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 1.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 364,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,777,000 after buying an additional 3,967 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Ball by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,705 shares of the company's stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 2,866 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth $285,000. Finally, Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

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.