Dover Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Dover Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,563 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

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

Ball Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of BALL traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $52.05. The stock had a trading volume of 2,329,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,732,544. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $53.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.75. The company has a market cap of $14.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.11, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Truist Financial decreased 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. Barclays decreased their price objective 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 target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.25.

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.