Candriam S.C.A. Decreases Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Candriam S.C.A. decreased its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 70.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 174,716 shares of the company’s stock after selling 419,825 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Ball were worth $9,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $66,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 29.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $54.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.29, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.64.

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.