Mizuho Securities USA LLC Acquires 8,599 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 43.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,284 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,599 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Ball by 7.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after acquiring an additional 19,266 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,770 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $50.37 on Wednesday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month 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. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.34 and its 200 day moving average is $58.16. The company has a market cap of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on BALL shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.