Principal Securities Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,139 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 633 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $1,825,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 46.3% in the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,681,000 after buying an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $51.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.74 and a 200 day moving average of $59.97. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

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.