Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 7,660 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,429 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,660 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in 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. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $50.37 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $50.23 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.