Meeder Asset Management Inc. Has $10.32 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,272 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,582 shares during the period. Ball accounts for approximately 0.7% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Meeder Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Ball worth $10,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 757,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,742,000 after buying an additional 5,374 shares during the period. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $481,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of Ball by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 16,481 shares of the company's stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 287,167 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,832,000 after purchasing an additional 19,805 shares during the period. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in Ball by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 59,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,285,000 after buying an additional 1,242 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.30.

Ball Stock Down 2.5 %

BALL stock traded down $1.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.24. 980,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,037,649. The company has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of 3.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $48.87 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

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

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

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.