New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys New Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 18th, 2023

New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 366,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,734,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Ball at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Covington Capital Management acquired a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, General Partner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 82.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $54.53 and a 200-day moving average of $53.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Ball Co. has a one year low of $46.00 and a one year high of $89.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 4.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ball from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Ball from $51.00 to $54.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.50.

Insider Activity

In other Ball news, Director John A. Hayes sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total value of $5,840,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 480,552 shares in the company, valued at $28,064,236.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ball Company Profile

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Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging North and Central America, Beverage Packaging South America, Beverage Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Aerospace. The Beverage Packaging North and Central America segment includes multi-year supply contracts to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.