Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,196,075 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 138,651 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned about 0.40% of Ball worth $65,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company's stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company's stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company's stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.18. 1,711,318 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,127,786. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.12, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $70.97. The company's 50-day moving average is $50.26 and its 200-day moving average is $54.18.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. Analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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. 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 $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.40.

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.