Wellington Management Group LLP Has $68.96 Million Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,250,769 shares of the company’s stock after selling 426,452 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.42% of Ball worth $68,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Ball by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 14.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,030,000 after buying an additional 87,577 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $909,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in Ball by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ball by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 137,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,317,000 after purchasing an additional 10,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $48.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.51 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.83, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.47.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business 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. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price 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 reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

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.