Ball (BALL) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Friday

Ball (NYSE:BALL) is scheduled to be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Friday, April 26th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.56 per share for the quarter. Parties that wish to register for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect Ball to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ball Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $65.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.73. Ball has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $67.97.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, April 4th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.