Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,128,336 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,557 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $391,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $94,861,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in Ball by 1,335.8% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,137,000 after purchasing an additional 576,078 shares during the period. Finally, LBP AM SA grew its position in Ball by 124.4% in the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,367,000 after buying an additional 325,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $48.54 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.51 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.47. The company has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 3.83, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued 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 dividend yield of 1.65%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on 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 dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

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.