Appian Way Asset Management LP Has $8.18 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Appian Way Asset Management LP increased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 140.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,312 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,512 shares during the quarter. Ball accounts for about 2.1% of Appian Way Asset Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Appian Way Asset Management LP’s holdings in Ball were worth $8,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. UBS Group AG grew its position in Ball by 69.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 592,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,080,000 after purchasing an additional 243,404 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Ball by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 429,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,729,000 after buying an additional 32,475 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,557,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,139,000 after buying an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.83.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $67.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.06, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.16. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

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.