Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 985,188 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.31% of Ball worth $56,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 50,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,902,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 189,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,908,000 after acquiring an additional 42,864 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock opened at $68.59 on Monday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $71.00 price objective (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Ball Company 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.