Farringdon Capital Ltd. Buys New Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $683,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% in 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. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $1.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $48.56. The company had a trading volume of 613,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,720,464. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.60. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 3.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share 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 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 business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Ball's payout ratio is 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.30.

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.