Ball (NYSE:BALL) Research Coverage Started at Citigroup

Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a sell rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.17.

Ball Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE BALL opened at $67.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.12 and its 200-day moving average is $55.67. Ball has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $67.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quilter Plc acquired a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter worth approximately $401,172,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Ball by 446.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Ball by 82.9% in the 2nd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is 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.