Signaturefd LLC Lowers Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Signaturefd LLC decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,409 shares of the company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.08.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $69.57 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.23, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

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.