Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,945 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,282 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Ball were worth $1,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2,341.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Truist Financial upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on Ball from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.08.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of BALL traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.25. 1,155,070 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,673,879. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.79. The firm has a market cap of $19.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball 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.