Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 101,401 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,590,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 7,706 shares of the company's stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Truist Financial lowered 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Ball stock traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $52.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,511,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,203,703. The company has a market capitalization of $14.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $50.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.28. Ball Co. has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $70.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

Ball 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.