Veracity Capital LLC Acquires 11,464 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 326.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,980 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,464 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $1,825,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 1.6 %

BALL stock opened at $55.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $57.30 and a 200-day moving average of $61.48. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.96 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.16, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upgraded Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.17.

About Ball

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.