Natixis Advisors LLC Has $14.75 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 23.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 267,459 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,121 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $14,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $94,861,000. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $1,825,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its stake in Ball by 531,933.3% in the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $51.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective 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 reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

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.