NEOS Investment Management LLC Buys 3,728 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,292 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,728 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $898,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $94,861,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in Ball by 1,335.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. LBP AM SA increased its position in Ball by 124.4% in the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,367,000 after buying an additional 325,497 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock opened at $51.45 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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 current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of 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 cut their price objective 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.