Mather Group LLC. Cuts Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mather Group LLC. reduced its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,809 shares of the company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Ball were worth $155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JB Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 54,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 2,462 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 21,326.7% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Clarity Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 106.6% in the 4th quarter. Clarity Financial LLC now owns 8,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 4,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 197,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $50.46 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $50.44 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $55.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

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.