Heartland Advisors Inc. Purchases 19,805 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 287,167 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,805 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Ball worth $15,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BALL stock traded up $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $52.33. The stock had a trading volume of 481,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,027,484. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.14 and a 200 day moving average of $57.78. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $48.95 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

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Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball's quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Ball's payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.