National Pension Service Decreases Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

National Pension Service cut its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 478,948 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,574 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.16% of Ball worth $26,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.92. 2,418,101 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,921,176. The company has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.37. 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 (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is 6.32%.

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.