Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 436.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,010 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,655 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Ball by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Truist Financial raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. One 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 MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.08.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $62.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 38,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,941,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.71. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

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.