Norden Group LLC Has $415,000 Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Norden Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,525 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the third quarter worth $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.10 on Wednesday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.43.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.