Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Holdings Lifted by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 308.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,865 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 67,131 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Ball were worth $4,899,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $53.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.25, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $70.73. The stock's 50-day moving average is $50.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.88.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

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

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