Xponance Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 799 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock opened at $50.69 on Friday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $52.47 and its 200 day moving average is $58.43.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

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

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.