Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $1.56 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 43.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,284 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,599 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in Ball by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,339,000 after buying an additional 162,105 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

Ball Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE BALL opened at $50.37 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.16. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 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.