Sky Investment Group LLC Has $850,000 Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sky Investment Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,165 shares of the company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in Ball by 0.5% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Ball by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock traded down $0.38 on Wednesday, reaching $62.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,447,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,926,111. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.68, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.42.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.08.

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.