Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,020 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,479,000. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after purchasing an additional 998,527 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Ball by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,252,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,020,000 after purchasing an additional 143,005 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,973,000. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its stake in Ball by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 1,128,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,438,000 after purchasing an additional 78,402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.23.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $60.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The firm’s revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

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.