Weiss Asset Management LP Makes New $4.45 Million Investment in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 92,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,448,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covington Capital Management bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $117,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth $123,000. 82.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, Director John A. Hayes sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total transaction of $5,840,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 480,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,064,236.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Ball Co. has a one year low of $46.00 and a one year high of $94.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.10). Ball had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 4.68%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 28th. Ball’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BALL. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ball from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ball from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.31.

Ball Company Profile

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Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging North and Central America, Beverage Packaging South America, Beverage Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Aerospace. The Beverage Packaging North and Central America segment includes multi-year supply contracts to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.