EdgeRock Capital LLC Decreases Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

EdgeRock Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,868 shares of the company’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of Ball by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TheStreet raised Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.23.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.21. 1,735,732 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,382. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.21, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.14. 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 (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.