Mizuho Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ball (NYSE:BALL) Stock Price

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target lowered by Mizuho from $69.00 to $67.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

BALL has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $60.27 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.55, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 52-week low of $48.05 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Ball by 114.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162,167 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,139,000 after acquiring an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,193,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,415,214,000 after acquiring an additional 267,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in Ball by 1,875.2% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Company Profile

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.