Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 308,744 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3,599.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 317,321 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 308,744 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $17,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC grew its position in Ball by 5.2% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,030,000 after purchasing an additional 87,577 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $49.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a PE ratio of 3.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

Ball 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.