Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,136 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Ball by 402.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ball by 167.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 175,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,440,000 after purchasing an additional 110,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective 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. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.50.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $50.37 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $50.23 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.91.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.