Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $304,000 Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 32.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,522 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ball by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Ball Stock Down 1.2 %

BALL opened at $51.45 on Friday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.18 and its 200 day moving average is $57.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

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