Ball (NYSE:BALL) Sets New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $52.97 and last traded at $53.49, with a volume of 1947363 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.69.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.08.

Ball Trading Down 0.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $15.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given 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 yield of 1.50%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ball by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,951,000 after acquiring an additional 171,924 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Ball by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,864,000 after acquiring an additional 99,306 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after acquiring an additional 836,293 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently 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.