1248 Management LLC Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $510,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,195,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lowered their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.78.

Ball Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $51.18 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 4.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.95.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has initiated 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 buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.