Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 857,688 shares of the company’s stock after selling 63,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Ball were worth $47,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Ball by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,249,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Ball by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Ball by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Ball by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,708 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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 decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.91 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.78. The firm has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Ball’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid 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 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ball

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.