Quadrant Capital Group LLC Acquires 299 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,747 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

BALL opened at $68.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.16. The company has a market cap of $21.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.18, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.87. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $688,095.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BALL. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

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.