South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 5,200 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

South Dakota Investment Council grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 73.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,249 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Ball were worth $705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 10.6% in the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 42,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,108,000 after buying an additional 4,066 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $444,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Ball by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,741,000 after purchasing an additional 17,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 66,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 3,828 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $65.45 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $67.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $20.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $61.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.