Aristeia Capital L.L.C. Acquires Shares of 11,188 Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 11,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in Ball by 531,933.3% in the 4th quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 63.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,875,000 after purchasing an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $51.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $70.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.30 and its 200 day moving average is $54.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.78.

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.