Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 393,579 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,211 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.13% of Ball worth $21,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company's stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.30.

Ball Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.43. The stock had a trading volume of 5,596,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,114,189. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.01. The company has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a PE ratio of 3.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $71.32. 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 (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Ball declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ball

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.