Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Holdings Raised by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP increased its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 85.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 238,983 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 109,853 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Ball were worth $13,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $51.45 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.88. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut 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. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.