North Star Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 185,195 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,516 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $10,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BALL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $94,861,000. London Co. of Virginia grew its position in shares of Ball by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,668 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,310,000 after purchasing an additional 840,357 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of BALL opened at $51.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.71. The stock has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $70.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Company 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.