Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $82.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its target price increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $74.00 to $82.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group assumed 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. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $71.00 price objective (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a neutral rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TheStreet raised 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, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $69.15.

Ball Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $68.22 on Monday. Ball has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $21.53 billion, a PE ratio of 5.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.55.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The company 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Ball by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.9% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 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.