Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by Inspire Trust Co. N.A.

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,000 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A.'s holdings in Ball were worth $2,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Ball by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,147,711 shares of the company's stock worth $118,403,000 after acquiring an additional 207,244 shares during the period. Ulysses Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Ulysses Management LLC now owns 575,000 shares of the company's stock worth $31,700,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $292,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the company's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares during the period. Finally, Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $8,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Ball Price Performance

BALL opened at $53.71 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $70.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.81. The company has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

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

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.

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