Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 34,296,661 shares of the company's stock after selling 423,705 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.49% of Ball worth $1,890,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $219,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,822,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 28,284 shares of the company's stock worth $1,559,000 after purchasing an additional 8,599 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Ball by 113.8% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 55,422 shares of the company's stock worth $3,055,000 after buying an additional 29,495 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $980,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $52.09. 2,322,117 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,033,501. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

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Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Ball Company 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.