Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Stock Holdings Lifted by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 530,006 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 829 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.18% of Ball worth $29,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter worth approximately $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,310,000 after buying an additional 840,357 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 576,078 shares during the last quarter. 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 several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.20.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $46.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $71.32.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board 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.