W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Sells 12,468 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 62.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,512 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,468 shares during the quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $432,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ball by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Wealthsource Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 4,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Ball by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 5,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $71.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group began coverage on Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.59. The company had a trading volume of 2,208,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,072,126. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.97. The stock has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a PE ratio of 5.16, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. Ball’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. Analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.