Analysts are Cutting Price Targets of These 5 Stocks

3. Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44  

Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is another packaging stock that is planning to expand operations. In late September, the firm announced that it would build a $290 million beverage can plant in Nevada. Earlier that month, the company had priced a $850 million senior notes offering. It is ranked third on our list of 10 stocks that analysts are cutting price targets of. 

Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) stock was downgraded by Bank of America to Neutral from Buy and the price target was also lowered by the bank to $95 from $101. Analyst George Staphos noted that the firm was still viewed as a high quality holding but seemed fairly valued. 

At the end of the second quarter of 2021, 44 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $1.5 billion in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL), up from 38 in the preceding quarter worth $1.4 billion.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Aluminum beverage and food container manufacturer Ball Corp, meanwhile, delivered fourth-quarter operating income slightly lower than consensus, though this was mainly attributable to higher startup costs for large new facilities coming online in North America. These investments and additional capacity projects will contribute to strong volume growth globally, however. Aluminum cans are infinitely recyclable and offer the best replacement product for single-use plastic beverage containers, in our view. They are more likely to be recycled than single-use plastic and are more energy efficient in production as well.”