Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, July 19th. The firm currently has $48.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock.
According to Zacks, “Ball Corporation expects the performance of its aerospace business to improve in the second quarter 2017. In the second quarter, Ball Corporation expects that the food and aerosol segment will benefit from cost savings associated with the West Virginia metal service center closure and anticipated growth for aluminum aerosol products. Ball Corporation expects 2017 free cash flow to be in the range of $750–$850 million and capital spending of around $500 million. Ball Corporation remains on track with free cash flow, EVA dollar growth, earnings per share growth and cost savings targets for 2017. The company will benefit from optimizing its packaging, manufacturing, network and beverage food and aerosol; and improvement in aerospace business.”
Several other research firms have also commented on BLL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a hold rating and set a $39.50 price objective on shares of Ball Corporation in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Ball Corporation from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $41.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Jefferies Group LLC upped their price target on shares of Ball Corporation from $45.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball Corporation from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Ball Corporation from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Ball Corporation presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $43.90.
Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) traded down 0.95% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.89. 1,659,901 shares of the stock were exchanged. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17 and a beta of 0.96. Ball Corporation has a 52 week low of $34.88 and a 52 week high of $43.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.96.
Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.04. Ball Corporation had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 16.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 40.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post $2.15 EPS for the current year.
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The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 30th. Ball Corporation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.67%.
In other Ball Corporation news, Director R David Hoover sold 22,000 shares of Ball Corporation stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.75, for a total transaction of $874,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 205,260 shares in the company, valued at $8,159,085. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Daniel William Fisher sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.75, for a total transaction of $79,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,529.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,732 shares of company stock valued at $3,309,230. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund raised its position in Ball Corporation by 92.3% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 98,373 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,152,000 after buying an additional 47,224 shares during the last quarter. World Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ball Corporation by 70.3% in the second quarter. World Asset Management Inc now owns 34,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after buying an additional 14,173 shares during the last quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT raised its position in Ball Corporation by 93.0% in the second quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT now owns 3,153,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,126,000 after buying an additional 1,519,489 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Ball Corporation by 350.9% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 209,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,838,000 after buying an additional 162,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan raised its position in Ball Corporation by 100.0% in the second quarter. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan now owns 24,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. 43.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Ball Corporation Company Profile
Ball Corporation is a supplier of metal packaging to the beverage, food, personal care and household products industries. The Company’s packaging products are produced for a range of end uses and are manufactured in facilities around the world. Its segments include beverage packaging, North and Central America; beverage packaging, South America; beverage packaging, Europe; food and aerosol packaging; aerospace, and other.
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