Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 43.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,866 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ball were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $49.09 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $54.03 and a 200 day moving average of $60.16.

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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

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

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.