Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Stock Holdings Increased by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,136 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after acquiring an additional 130,175 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,825,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Ball by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,111,000 after purchasing an additional 18,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BALL. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.50.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $50.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $55.52 and its 200-day moving average is $60.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $50.23 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

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.