Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 302,288 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,373 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Ball were worth $16,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $558,000. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,865,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,380,000. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $275,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $51.61 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Ball Co. has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $70.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.68.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) 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. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.78.

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.