Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Reduces Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC cut its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 40.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 110,198 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74,733 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $6,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 40.0% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.23.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $68.88. 1,640,199 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,080,742. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.24. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.38 billion, a PE ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

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.