Sepio Capital LP Acquires New Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sepio Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 26,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 4,136 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 52,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,042,000 after buying an additional 3,671 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 141,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Ball by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 29,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,478 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

BALL stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $68.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,640,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,080,742. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $67.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.24. The company has a market cap of $21.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 through the SEC website. In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. One 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.23.

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.