Bailard Inc. Has $1.88 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Bailard Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,113 shares of the company’s stock after selling 253 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norden Group LLC raised its position in Ball by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 7,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 9,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $532,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in Ball by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,805 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,401,000. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in Ball by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 122,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,775,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Up 1.2 %

BALL opened at $52.71 on Monday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $53.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.59. The company has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of 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 raised shares of 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. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously 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 issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

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.