EntryPoint Capital LLC Takes $404,000 Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $404,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company's stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company's stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Ball by 61.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,653 shares of the company's stock worth $3,440,000 after purchasing an additional 19,266 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,904 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,770 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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 dropped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.30.

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Ball Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,765,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,032,346. The firm has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ball's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

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.