Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 69.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,455 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 4,686 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $56.20. 1,745,482 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,286,807. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.33. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.96 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 4.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Ball's payout ratio is 6.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.17.

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.