700 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Purchased by Independence Bank of Kentucky

Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Ball by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after purchasing an additional 998,527 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ball by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,853,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,408,000 after purchasing an additional 72,585 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in Ball by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645,909 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $168,372,000. Finally, Mirova US LLC grew its position in Ball by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,406,000 after purchasing an additional 833,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.02. The stock had a trading volume of 4,820,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,388,935. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $67.24 and its 200-day moving average is $63.26.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were 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 approximately $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.