Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $5.18 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,994 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 55.7% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,978 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Ball by 5.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,073,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $337,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 14,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.6 %

BALL stock opened at $52.38 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.09 and a 200-day moving average of $57.69. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

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.