B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Sells 4,118 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG decreased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,118 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Ball were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Ball by 5.1% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $836,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 707,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,030,000 after acquiring an additional 87,577 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $909,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its position in shares of Ball by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Ball by 8.2% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 137,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,317,000 after purchasing an additional 10,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 3.9 %

BALL opened at $48.54 on Friday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.51 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 3.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $51.82 and its 200 day moving average is $57.47.

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

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally 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 was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Finally, Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.