Ball (NYSE:BALL) Given New $75.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on BALL. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.75.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock opened at $53.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $15.87 billion, a PE ratio of 4.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.76. Ball has a 12-month low of $51.96 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball by 1.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.