Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Boston Partners

by · The Markets Daily

Boston Partners lowered its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,091,044 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500,995 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 1.71% of Ball worth $280,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in 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 boosted its stake in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Read Our Latest Report on Ball

Ball Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of BALL opened at $51.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $52.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.62. 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 – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Ball’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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

Ball Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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