Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Position Cut by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 264,501 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,583 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.09% of Ball worth $14,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Ball by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company's stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its position in Ball by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE BALL traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $47.43. 5,596,373 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,114,189. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.33 and a 200 day moving average of $56.01. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective 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. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.30.

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.