XTX Topco Ltd Takes $1.29 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 23,463 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,294,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in Ball by 63.4% in 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.30.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $50.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.01. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a PE ratio of 3.75, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.