Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Stock Position Lessened by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,722 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,728 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after buying an additional 19,266 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the third 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. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Ball by 55.7% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,978 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $1,761,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Ball by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 28,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $51.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.93. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a PEG 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.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup cut 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

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.