Jensen Investment Management Inc. Trims Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Jensen Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 98.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,441 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,242,939 shares during the period. Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Ball by 4.5% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $51.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. 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 50 day moving average of $52.64 and a 200 day moving average of $58.78. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.