Huntington National Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Huntington National Bank reduced its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,714 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,465 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ball by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $52.34 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $52.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.65. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year 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.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

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.