Invesco Ltd. Acquires 840,357 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 840,357 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.39% of Ball worth $229,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp increased its stake in Ball by 1,335.8% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after purchasing an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Ball by 333.4% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 572,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,535,000 after purchasing an additional 440,020 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Up 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $48.12 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $50.58 and a 200 day moving average of $56.48. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a PE ratio of 3.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued 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 company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price 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, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.20.

Ball Company 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.