Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 4,686 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 69.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,455 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,686 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in Ball by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 221,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,191,000 after purchasing an additional 7,215 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 5,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 1,983 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $55.35 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $51.96 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.17.

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.