Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. boosted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,426 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. JGP Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $914,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in Ball by 12.8% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in Ball by 4.5% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 5,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Ball to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.58.

Ball Stock Up 5.2 %

BALL traded up $3.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.84. 1,134,884 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,818,758. The stock has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.89. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $69.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.71%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.