Ball (NYSE:BALL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Ball (NYSE:BALL) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The business’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share.

Ball Stock Up 7.5 %

Shares of Ball stock traded up $4.94 on Friday, hitting $70.39. 2,101,426 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,831,741. The company has a market cap of $22.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.89. Ball has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $70.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BALL. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. TheStreet raised Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

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.