16,200 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Bought by Polymer Capital Management US LLC

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 16,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Ball by 298.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ball by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $48.54 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.34. 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 firm has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $46.26 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid 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 1.65%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.