Federated Hermes Inc. Lowers Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,060 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in Ball by 80.4% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $69.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $70.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.11.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Citigroup began coverage on Ball in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Ball to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.