Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 14,452 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Ball Corporation by 5.0%, selling 14,452 shares, leaving them with 272,715 shares valued at approximately $14.2 million.
• Ball Corporation reported $3.10 billion in revenue for the recent quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.91 billion, and had an EPS of $0.76 which surpassed consensus estimates by $0.07.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.36% with a payout ratio of 47.62%.

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 272,715 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,452 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.10% of Ball worth $14,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ball by 6.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company's stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the company's stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in Ball by 0.6% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,359 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,778,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Notis McConarty Edward lifted its stake in Ball by 0.8% in the first quarter. Notis McConarty Edward now owns 43,790 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 1.7% during the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 21,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $59.03. 1,593,100 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,824,443. The company has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $68.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Ball's payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.64.

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.