Naviter Wealth LLC Invests $237,000 in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Naviter Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 1.1% in 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 during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 36,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,501,000 after buying an additional 2,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 20,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

Ball Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $54.35 on Monday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

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 yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.