QRG Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,253 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,934 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $6,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.25.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $52.71 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.63.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm 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 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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.