Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Fox Run Management L.L.C.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. reduced its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 49.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,044 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Ball were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after buying an additional 19,266 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball by 16.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,709,000 after acquiring an additional 5,770 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 55.7% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,761,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $52.11 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a PE ratio of 4.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.