Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 24.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 3,974 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $510,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.30.

Ball Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $47.09 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a PE ratio of 3.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.15.

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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.