Ossiam Raises Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Ossiam boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,371 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,691 shares during the period. Ossiam’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $510,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in Ball by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 48,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,260,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $47.43 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.73.

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

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on BALL shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.30.

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.