Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC

VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 99.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,719 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,809 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp grew its stake in Ball by 1,335.8% in the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,137,000 after acquiring an additional 576,078 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ball by 3,599.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 317,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,494,000 after acquiring an additional 308,744 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Ball by 402.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,014,000 after acquiring an additional 212,430 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $50.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on BALL. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial lowered 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

Ball Company 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.