UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Grows Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,147,711 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 207,244 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $118,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its position in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Ball by 63.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,875,000 after purchasing an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Ball by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after buying an additional 18,809 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $51.80 on Friday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $70.07. The company has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.47 and a 200 day moving average of $53.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

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.