Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Raises Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,984 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,577 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. First Merchants Corp increased its position in Ball by 1,335.8% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after acquiring an additional 576,078 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA raised its stake in shares of Ball by 124.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,367,000 after acquiring an additional 325,497 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BALL. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 cut their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Ball Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $52.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.69. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32. The firm has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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 revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.