Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 17.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 807,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 167,429 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Ball were worth $44,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Down 1.9 %

Ball stock opened at $51.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.