Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by ExodusPoint Capital Management LP

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 333.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 572,017 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 440,020 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP’s holdings in Ball were worth $31,535,000 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. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $108,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 7,897.6% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 140,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,738,000 after buying an additional 138,603 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 187,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,324,000 after buying an additional 24,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Ball by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 757,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,742,000 after acquiring an additional 5,374 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $52.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.65. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

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

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.