Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 231,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,341 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.08% of Ball worth $12,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock opened at $50.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 3.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.09.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

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.