2,927,189 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,927,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $168,372,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 2,341.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ball by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Ball by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its position in Ball by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 1,128,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,438,000 after acquiring an additional 78,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 479,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,495 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BALL shares. Citigroup initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.23.

Ball Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $70.12 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.28, a PEG ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball 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.