Corient Private Wealth LLC Sells 126,830 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 48.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 137,042 shares of the company’s stock after selling 126,830 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $7,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 40.0% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America upgraded Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

Insider Transactions at Ball

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

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BALL opened at $68.88 on Monday. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $42.81 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $21.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.31.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.