Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Purchases 2,100 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 122,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Ball were worth $6,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp lifted its stake in Ball by 1,335.8% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Ball by 3,599.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 317,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,494,000 after buying an additional 308,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 402.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $52.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BALL. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated 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. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

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.