Eukles Asset Management Has $3.72 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Eukles Asset Management increased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,612 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the quarter. Ball makes up 1.8% of Eukles Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Eukles Asset Management’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Veritable L.P. grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 21,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Wealthsource Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Ball by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $64.82. 628,487 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,817,592. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $67.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. Ball’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Ball’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Ball from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $61.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.58.

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.