Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp lessened its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 92.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,039 shares of the company's stock after selling 35,500 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Ball were worth $175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.2 %

Ball stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.11. 1,104,204 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,899,644. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.28, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.87. The business's 50 day moving average is $66.88 and its 200 day moving average is $60.30. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Ball's quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho increased their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.23.

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.