Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,502,046 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,439 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.50% of Ball worth $82,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,310,000 after acquiring an additional 840,357 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter worth about $190,105,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ball by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company's stock worth $168,447,000 after acquiring an additional 367,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in Ball by 61.1% during the 4th quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company's stock worth $168,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,668 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $53.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,893,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,083. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $70.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued 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 1.49%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are 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.