29,285 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Bought by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,973,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ball by 40.0% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.4 %

Ball stock opened at $60.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.83 billion, a PE ratio of 4.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.17.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Mizuho lifted 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.85.

Ball 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.