Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Director Sells $349,500.00 in Stock

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ball Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of BALL opened at $68.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a PE ratio of 5.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $67.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.03. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. 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 posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.