KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes $5.82 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 105,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,822,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ball by 2.0% in the 4th 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 Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $94,861,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in Ball by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,339,000 after acquiring an additional 162,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $50.37 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.16.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released 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 business 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 company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.59%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.