Ball’s (BALL) Hold Rating Reiterated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reiterated their hold rating on shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL stock opened at $64.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.99. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $67.97. 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 (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball will post 3.11 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 issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Veritable L.P. boosted its position in Ball by 0.9% during the first quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 21,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.