LPL Financial LLC Sells 8,987 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

LPL Financial LLC lowered its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,545 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,987 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.09% of Ball worth $14,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in Ball by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company's stock worth $76,339,000 after purchasing an additional 162,105 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,302,923 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,742,000 after purchasing an additional 301,246 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Trading Down 3.9 %

BALL stock traded down $1.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,743,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,044,440. The stock has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 3.83, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.95 and a 200-day moving average of $57.60. 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 Co. has a one year low of $48.24 and a one year high of $71.32.

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Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business 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 quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BALL. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.