abrdn plc Sells 17,700 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

abrdn plc cut its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 495,520 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,700 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.17% of Ball worth $27,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 4.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company's stock worth $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the period. M&G PLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 5.2% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 790,137 shares of the company's stock worth $53,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,714 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 14.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company's stock worth $48,030,000 after purchasing an additional 87,577 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.09 on Thursday, hitting $51.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,024,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,702,798. The company has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a PE ratio of 3.87, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.76 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.07.

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

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup decreased 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.50.

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.