Morgan Stanley Cuts Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $75.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 41.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on BALL. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.75.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $52.84. 819,338 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,226,928. The firm has a market cap of $15.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.93. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.82.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 598.6% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 334.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.