Norges Bank Invests $190.11 Million in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,448,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,105,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.16% of Ball at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Ball by 298.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ball by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial dropped 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

Ball Stock Down 1.2 %

BALL stock opened at $51.45 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.88. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business 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 firm’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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

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.