Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 353,530 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,238 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $19,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 298.9% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 35.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.20.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $48.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.27.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

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.