Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $5.87 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,498 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,285 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lyell Wealth Management LP grew its position in shares of Ball by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 55,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ball by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 45,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,535,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Ball by 338.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 3,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 4,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. 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 research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

Ball Stock Up 1.8 %

BALL stock opened at $51.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.99. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94.

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

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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.