Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 54.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,930,811 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,534,895 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.98% of Ball worth $161,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the company's stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $510,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,247,000 after buying an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company's stock worth $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in shares of Ball by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 48,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,260,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.74. 725,628 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,104,891. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $50.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.95. The company has a market cap of $14.61 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $70.97. 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 (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.78.

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.