Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys 1,360 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,522 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in Ball by 68.9% during the fourth 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. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $51.45 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board 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.