Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,597 shares of the company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Ball by 7.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Ball by 5.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Ball by 12.4% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 516,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,077,000 after acquiring an additional 56,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.92 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.37. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

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.