Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $26.87 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3,540.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 487,412 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 474,023 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $26,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 1.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 364,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,777,000 after buying an additional 3,967 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Ball by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,000 after buying an additional 2,866 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $285,000. Asset Allocation & Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Bar Harbor Wealth Management grew its stake in Ball by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 65,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,606,000 after buying an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.40.

Ball Trading Up 0.8%

BALL opened at $52.18 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $50.26 and its 200-day moving average is $54.18. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.12, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $70.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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.