Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 62.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,512 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,468 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Ball by 80.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BALL. Mizuho raised their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.15.

Ball Price Performance

BALL traded up $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.59. 2,208,429 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,072,126. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.87. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.