Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Man Group plc

Man Group plc trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 35.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,183 shares of the company's stock after selling 60,665 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in Ball were worth $6,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 25,027 shares of the company's stock worth $1,380,000 after buying an additional 11,282 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company's stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,468 shares of the company's stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 1,618 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 21,353 shares of the company's stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Ball by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 124,313 shares of the company's stock worth $6,853,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 2.9%

NYSE BALL traded down $1.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.80. 3,813,551 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,186,343. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $50.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.77. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.07.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized 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 buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced 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. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

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.