Neo Ivy Capital Management Purchases New Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,135,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 54,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,977,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Ball by 10.7% during 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 position in Ball by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Ulysses Management LLC now owns 575,000 shares of the company's stock worth $31,700,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $292,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Ball by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the company's stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $1.62 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $53.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,922,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,191,474. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $50.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.56. The firm has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.07.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays cut their price target on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.00.

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.