Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 3,448,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,105,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $51.45 on Monday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $52.18 and its 200-day moving average is $57.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) 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. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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

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.