Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,076 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,873 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $50.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.40. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Barclays dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.