Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $26.87 Million Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3,540.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 487,412 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 474,023 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Ball worth $26,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its position in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ball by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its position in Ball by 63.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,875,000 after acquiring an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Ball by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,053,000 after acquiring an additional 18,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $52.18 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of 4.12, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.26 and its 200-day moving average is $54.18. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $70.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.40.

Ball Company 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.