Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,881 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,818 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares during the period. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth $1,825,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,681,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares during the period. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $50.78 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.36 billion, a PE ratio of 4.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted 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 net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

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.