Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,454 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,629 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $50.69 on Monday. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.35. 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 company has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 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 company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BALL shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.