Cibc World Markets Corp Has $8.93 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 289.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 161,908 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120,300 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $8,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth $94,861,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,339,000 after purchasing an additional 162,105 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of BALL opened at $51.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.57 and a 200 day moving average of $58.62.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm 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 was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

About Ball

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.