Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 75,724 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,116 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $4,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $980,000. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $277,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Ball by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 46,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 289.1% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 161,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,926,000 after acquiring an additional 120,300 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 267,459 shares of the company's stock worth $14,745,000 after acquiring an additional 51,121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.37. 2,474,346 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,953,542. The firm's fifty day moving average is $52.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.25. The company has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective 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. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.