Quantbot Technologies LP Increases Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 113.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,422 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,495 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $980,000. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $277,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Ball by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 46,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,120 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in Ball by 289.1% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 161,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 120,300 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ball by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 267,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,745,000 after purchasing an additional 51,121 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial decreased 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $50.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.40. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Company 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.