Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,055,441 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 367,798 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.02% of Ball worth $168,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BALL. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the company's stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at $510,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 3.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company's stock worth $453,144,000 after buying an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 20.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 48,000 shares of the company's stock worth $3,260,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.53. The stock had a trading volume of 835,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,278. The company has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50 day moving average price is $50.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.80.

Ball 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.