Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 25.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,159,436 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 840,357 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.39% of Ball worth $229,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its holdings in Ball by 531,933.3% during the 4th quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock worth $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 63.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company's stock worth $28,875,000 after purchasing an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Ball stock traded up $0.31 on Thursday, hitting $47.38. 1,062,486 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,094,949. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $50.39 and its 200 day moving average is $56.15. The stock has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.75, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The business's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. UBS Group decreased their price objective on 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 reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.30.

Ball 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.