Ball (NYSE:BALL) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of 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. The stock had previously closed at $53.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.08.

Ball Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $15.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.03, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 6.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Ball by 458.6% in the 2nd 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 period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 period. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in Ball by 1,875.2% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Ball by 402.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,014,000 after buying an additional 212,430 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is 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.