US Bancorp DE Lowers Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

US Bancorp DE trimmed its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,552 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,457 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Ball were worth $802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BALL. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Ball by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $53.98 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.13.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced 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 during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.