AMF Tjanstepension AB Sells 54,969 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

AMF Tjanstepension AB reduced its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 27.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 145,548 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,969 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Ball were worth $9,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $168,372,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter worth $109,022,000. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in Ball by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,526,000 after buying an additional 1,645,909 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,527,000 after buying an additional 998,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,406,000 after buying an additional 833,494 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.54.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ball Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $60.02 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.26.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.