Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 360,387 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,689 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $20,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 1,794 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Ball by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its position in Ball by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in Ball by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 93,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,387,000 after purchasing an additional 24,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.23.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $68.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,926,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,060. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.75 billion, a PE ratio of 5.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

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.