Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Grows Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,984 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,577 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its stake in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,053,000 after acquiring an additional 18,809 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $52.38 on Wednesday. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $52.09 and a 200 day moving average of $57.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.14, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.