Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 803,728 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.60% of Ball worth $427,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BALL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $190,105,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $94,861,000. AMG National Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,388,227 shares of the company's stock worth $76,339,000 after purchasing an additional 162,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Ball by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,302,923 shares of the company's stock worth $69,742,000 after buying an additional 301,246 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Down 3.5 %

Ball stock traded down $1.85 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $50.46. The stock had a trading volume of 2,244,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,039,223. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $48.95 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.05 and a 200 day moving average of $57.65. The firm has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.99, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.30.

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.