Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 126,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,910,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 99.5% in the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after purchasing an additional 18,809 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Ball Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $50.37 on Wednesday. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a PE ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.34 and its 200-day moving average is $58.16.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

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

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.