Barclays Increases Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $72.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Barclays from $71.00 to $72.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.03% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet raised Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.23.

Ball Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BALL opened at $69.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $21.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87. Ball has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. Ball’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in Ball during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.