Brown Financial Advisors Increases Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Brown Financial Advisors grew its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,706 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 421 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Ball were worth $425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BALL. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp raised its position in shares of Ball by 1,335.8% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,137,000 after acquiring an additional 576,078 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Ball by 3,599.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 317,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,494,000 after acquiring an additional 308,744 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Ball by 402.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE: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 business has a fifty day moving average of $53.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.88. The stock has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.01, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.