Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Has $1.97 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,632 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Ball by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,030,000 after acquiring an additional 87,577 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 692,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp grew its position in shares of Ball by 1,335.8% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,137,000 after purchasing an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $54.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.90 and a 200-day moving average of $59.23. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced 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. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup lowered 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

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.