Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 287 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,861 shares of the company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Ball were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.25.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $51.35 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.