Palisade Asset Management LLC Has $10.08 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Palisade Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 175,156 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,392 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC owned 0.06% of Ball worth $10,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Ball by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,252,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,020,000 after buying an additional 143,005 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,469,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,149,000 after acquiring an additional 282,114 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ball by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 309,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,430,000 after acquiring an additional 140,440 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 389,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,384,000 after purchasing an additional 16,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 25.3% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 85,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,245,000 after purchasing an additional 17,215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ball in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.23.

Ball Stock Up 1.0 %

Ball stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.89. 2,056,140 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,908,122. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

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.