QRG Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,934 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 116,253 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,934 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $6,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ball by 29.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BALL opened at $52.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.63.

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

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.52%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Barclays cut their target price 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. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

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.