RD Lewis Holdings Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

RD Lewis Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Ball by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 9,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 216,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,692,000 after purchasing an additional 25,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $792,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.64.

Ball Stock Up 0.8 %

Ball stock opened at $52.31 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. 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 50 day moving average price of $52.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.71. The company has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 4.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ball

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.