Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 16,121 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 481,229 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,121 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Ball worth $26,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup cut their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $51.45 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.88. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-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 market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Company 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.