Royal Bank of Canada Raises Ball (NYSE:BALL) Price Target to $63.00

Ball (NYSE:BALL) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 20.74% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.40.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $52.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a PE ratio of 4.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 11.5% in the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Ball by 6.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.