Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 2,055 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,040 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Macquarie Group Ltd. bought a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $533,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,319,000. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,863,000. Pathstone Family Office LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $621,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $1,181,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Ball from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $61.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Ball to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.35. 1,436,317 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,834,330. The stock has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $67.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. Ball had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.81%. Ball’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Ball Company 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.