Forsta AP Fonden Has $8.46 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 153,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Ball were worth $8,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Ball by 598.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upgraded Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $56.23 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $51.96 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.24, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ball

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.