Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.
Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 70.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,716 shares of the company's stock after selling 419,825 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned approximately 0.06% of Ball worth $9,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 29.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.
BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.64.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Ball
Ball stock opened at $54.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.29, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.26. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.
Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.
Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 24.2% 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.
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.
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