Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 423,705 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,296,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 423,705 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Ball worth $1,890,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ball by 15.4% during 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 during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp increased its position in Ball by 1,335.8% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA raised its stake in Ball by 124.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,367,000 after buying an additional 325,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $51.34 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.11.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BALL. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial decreased 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.