Truist Financial Corp Acquires 7,623 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 351,103 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,623 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $20,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ball by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,853,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,408,000 after acquiring an additional 72,585 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Ball by 3.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,138,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,248,000 after purchasing an additional 115,133 shares in the last quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,126,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,662,000 after buying an additional 95,415 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,764,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,620,000 after buying an additional 234,363 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,577,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,284,000 after buying an additional 37,492 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $70.72 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.30. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $42.81 and a 1-year high of $70.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 5.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $71.00 price objective (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.08.

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.