Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Reduces Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ cut its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,488 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 6.8% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 9,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.0% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $2,757,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 1.8 %

BALL stock opened at $51.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a PE ratio of 4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.