USS Investment Management Ltd Trims Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

USS Investment Management Ltd decreased its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 49.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,326 shares of the company’s stock after selling 53,028 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $94,861,000. London Co. of Virginia increased its stake in shares of Ball by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,389,000 after buying an additional 1,158,668 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ball by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,310,000 after purchasing an additional 840,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.80 on Friday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $70.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.09, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.71.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

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.