Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 75,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,116 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $4,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BALL. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ball by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Ball Trading Down 0.4 %

BALL stock opened at $51.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.53. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a PE ratio of 4.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

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.