AMI Asset Management Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

AMI Asset Management Corp lessened its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 517,925 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,914 shares during the quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp owned approximately 0.17% of Ball worth $28,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 400.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after purchasing an additional 130,175 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,681,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth $1,825,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $54.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.96 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.57.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

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.