Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases New Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 11,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.95 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its 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. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase 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 shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BALL. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

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.