Polymer Capital Management US LLC Invests $893,000 in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake 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 and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter worth approximately $190,105,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank raised its position in shares of 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. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price 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 reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.20.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $2.16 on Friday, hitting $48.12. 3,255,243 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,105,809. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $50.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.48. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.80, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

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.