Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 183.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,100 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Ball by 6.8% in the third 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. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 692,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Ball by 402.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in Ball by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth $2,757,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BALL. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

Ball Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated 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 buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.