Ball’s (BALL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Truist Financial

Truist Financial restated their buy rating on shares of Ball (NYSE:BALL) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $76.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $78.00.

BALL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Citigroup cut Ball from a “buy” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Ball from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.15.

Ball Trading Down 1.5%

BALL stock traded down $1.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.88. The company had a trading volume of 2,571,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,401,678. Ball has a 52-week low of $46.06 and a 52-week high of $69.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.78 billion. Ball had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ball will post 4.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 40.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, SVP Mandy Glew sold 5,626 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total transaction of $358,938.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $459,934.20. This represents a 43.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Ball by 8.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,416,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,861 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the second quarter worth $96,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the second quarter worth about $160,506,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 3,687.6% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 72,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,077,000 after purchasing an additional 70,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 90.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 81,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 38,896 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Ball this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $77 from $75 and maintained a Buy rating; RBC also lifted its target to $77, from $73, and kept its Outperform rating. Both targets imply about 17% upside from the cited $65.88 share price. Citigroup price-target report RBC analyst recommendations
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated its Buy rating, signaling continued confidence in Ball’s prospects. Truist rating report
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS raised its target to $68 from $63 but kept a Neutral rating, suggesting a more modest view of potential gains. UBS price-target report
• Neutral Sentiment: Mizuho set a new $75 price target. Ball’s reported consensus target is $71.46, reflecting generally positive expectations but some variation among analysts. Mizuho price-target report Consensus price-target report
• Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan cut Ball’s rating to Neutral, a cautious counterpoint to the recent target increases. JPMorgan rating report

Ball Company Profile

Ball Corporation is a global supplier of sustainable aluminum packaging. The company primarily manufactures aluminum beverage cans, bottles and cups used by beer, soft-drink, energy-drink and other beverage companies. Its products are designed to support brand presentation, product protection and recycling throughout the packaging lifecycle.

Ball serves customers across North and South America, Europe and other international markets through a network of manufacturing facilities. The company also develops and markets aluminum packaging products for additional consumer and household applications, including its reusable and recyclable Ball Aluminum Cup.

Founded in 1880 as a manufacturer of glass containers, Ball evolved into a major producer of metal packaging and became particularly known for its aluminum beverage cans.