Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 3,866 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 43.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,866 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ball were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 400.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after acquiring an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,825,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after buying an additional 87,120 shares during the period. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% during the 4th quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 47,874 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.25.

Ball Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $49.09 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of 3.88, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.16.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.