Securian Asset Management Inc. Takes $1.32 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 25th, 2023

Securian Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $3,683,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $704,000. United Asset Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $521,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $156,000. Finally, Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $279,000. 82.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John A. Hayes sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 480,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,064,236.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Ball from $58.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ball from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ball from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Ball from $51.00 to $54.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.56.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $52.28 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.78. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $46.00 and a 1-year high of $86.37.

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Ball had a net margin of 4.68% and a return on equity of 24.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

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.