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

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 857,688 shares of the company’s stock after selling 63,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Ball worth $47,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.91 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.78. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.64.

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.