Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,674 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,478 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $168,372,000. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $109,022,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Ball by 146.6% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,470,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,730,000 after purchasing an additional 874,325 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC raised its position in Ball by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,406,000 after purchasing an additional 833,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Ball by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,134,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,764,000 after purchasing an additional 381,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $68.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.24. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $21.38 billion, a PE ratio of 5.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at $688,095.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet raised Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

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.