Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 35.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,076 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,873 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $3,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $94,861,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company's stock valued at $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 valued at $34,137,000 after purchasing an additional 576,078 shares during the period. LBP AM SA grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 124.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 587,099 shares of the company's stock worth $32,367,000 after acquiring an additional 325,497 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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Ball Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Ball stock traded up $0.96 on Wednesday, hitting $51.34. 1,965,308 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,957,805. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $14.50 billion, a PE ratio of 4.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $52.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.16. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week 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 the consensus estimate 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%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management 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.