Candriam S.C.A. Trims Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 70.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 174,716 shares of the company's stock after selling 419,825 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.06% of Ball worth $9,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,048,000 after buying an additional 130,175 shares during the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $1,825,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company's stock worth $18,681,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its stake in Ball by 531,933.3% during 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 buying an additional 47,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.64.

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Ball Price Performance

BALL stock traded up $2.17 on Friday, reaching $54.35. 2,330,468 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,926,857. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.90 and a 200-day moving average of $59.26. The firm has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally 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.