Amundi Has $69.74 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Amundi increased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 30.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,302,923 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 301,246 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Ball were worth $69,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in 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 period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in 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 period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $52.35 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.04. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually 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, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

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.