Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Makes New $245,000 Investment in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,310,000 after acquiring an additional 840,357 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter worth $190,105,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ball by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,447,000 after acquiring an additional 367,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ball by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price 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 firm has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.85. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $70.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.78.

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.