Donaldson Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Macquarie Group Ltd. bought a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $533,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,319,000. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,863,000. Pathstone Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $621,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,181,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.58 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.04. The stock had a trading volume of 248,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,812,748. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $20.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $67.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.56 billion. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on BALL shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Insider Activity at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ball 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.