Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 284,157 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,362 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of Ball worth $16,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at $444,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Ball by 47.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,741,000 after buying an additional 17,829 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Ball by 6.1% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 66,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after buying an additional 3,828 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Ball by 11.8% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 30,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 3,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $69.80 on Monday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $70.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 5.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication 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.