Edgestream Partners L.P. Grows Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 382.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,274 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 60,468 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.'s holdings in Ball were worth $4,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ball by 7.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,009 shares of the company's stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ball by 5.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,577 shares of the company's stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $324,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 1.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 364,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,777,000 after buying an additional 3,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.64.

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Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $54.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.90 and a 200 day moving average of $59.26.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. 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 of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball 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.

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