Picton Mahoney Asset Management Increases Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 68.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 522 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management’s holdings in Ball were worth $29,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp increased its stake in shares of Ball by 1,335.8% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares during the period. LBP AM SA increased its stake in shares of Ball by 124.4% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,367,000 after buying an additional 325,497 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 0.8 %

Ball stock opened at $52.31 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.71.

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

Ball announced that its board has approved 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 purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 presently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

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.