Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Ball by 80.4% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE BALL traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.59. 2,208,429 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,072,126. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.78. The firm has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a PE ratio of 5.16, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The business’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.15.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.