Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Position Boosted by CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 299,497 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,024 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.10% of Ball worth $16,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,861,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ball by 25.3% during the 4th 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 11.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp increased its position in Ball by 1,335.8% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.80.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $2.08 on Thursday, reaching $50.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,292,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,128,410. The firm's 50 day moving average is $50.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.50. The stock has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is 6.32%.

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

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.