Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 1,708 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,692 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,708 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $94,861,000. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $1,825,000. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 47,874 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of 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, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $51.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.