Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 1,107 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 53.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,171 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares during the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 87,120 shares during the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,825,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 25.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,111,000 after purchasing an additional 18,327 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $51.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.21. The firm has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a PE ratio of 3.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $50.81 and a 1-year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BALL. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.17.

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.