Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by Amundi

Amundi raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 30.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,302,923 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 301,246 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.44% of Ball worth $69,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Naviter Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in Ball by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,339,000 after acquiring an additional 162,105 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in Ball by 382.6% in the 4th quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 76,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,205,000 after acquiring an additional 60,468 shares during the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $298,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $1,229,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $52.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.83 and its 200-day moving average is $59.04.

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

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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.