Clarity Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Clarity Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 106.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,565 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,420 shares during the period. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Ball by 6.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the period. M&G PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 790,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,030,000 after buying an additional 87,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $56.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $51.96 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors 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 typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.17.

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.