Swedbank AB Raises Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Swedbank AB lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 197,188 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned about 0.07% of Ball worth $10,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter worth $1,339,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 4,686 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in Ball by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 221,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,191,000 after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of BALL opened at $55.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.68 and a 200 day moving average of $61.30. The company has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a PE ratio of 4.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.93. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $51.96 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

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.