New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 242,901 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,236 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Ball worth $13,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. FMR LLC boosted its position in Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company's stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp lifted its position in Ball by 1,335.8% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company's stock worth $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company's stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3,599.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 317,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,494,000 after buying an additional 308,744 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Ball by 402.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company's stock worth $18,014,000 after acquiring an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Up 1.8 %

BALL stock traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.35. 3,493,153 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,785,969. 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 company has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.94. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $53.74 and its 200-day moving average is $60.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.56%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.25.

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.