Insider Buying: Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) SVP Acquires 563 Shares of Stock

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) SVP Mandy Glew bought 563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $68.15 per share, with a total value of $38,368.45. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,563 shares in the company, valued at $242,818.45. This represents a 18.77 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Ball Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $56.23 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $51.96 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.77 and its 200-day moving average is $61.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 4.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the period. M&G PLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 5.2% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 790,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,729,000 after purchasing an additional 38,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,030,000 after buying an additional 87,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

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.