Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,490 shares of the company’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $11,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth $168,372,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $109,022,000. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,909 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,527,000 after acquiring an additional 998,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC raised its stake in Ball by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,406,000 after purchasing an additional 833,494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.28. 731,651 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,965,405. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.44. 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 quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $18.40 billion, a PE ratio of 4.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ball

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.