Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Buys 10,979 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 128.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,531 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,979 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Ball were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ball by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,310,000 after purchasing an additional 840,357 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $190,105,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,447,000 after purchasing an additional 367,798 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Trading Down 0.9 %

BALL stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.90. The stock had a trading volume of 378,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,686,607. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.07. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $70.97. The firm has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.80.

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.