Trillium Asset Management LLC Has $21.23 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Trillium Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 385,031 shares of the company’s stock after selling 91,766 shares during the period. Trillium Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $21,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BALL. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Ball by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 9,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 216,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,692,000 after acquiring an additional 25,048 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 9,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

Ball Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE BALL opened at $51.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.