Oxford Asset Management LLP Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchased a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 298.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.80.

Ball Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BALL traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $51.18. The company had a trading volume of 2,345,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,109,683. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $70.97. The stock has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 4.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is 6.32%.

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.