Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by ExodusPoint Capital Management LP

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 333.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 572,017 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 440,020 shares during the quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP owned about 0.19% of Ball worth $31,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $52.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.65. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

Ball 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.