Toronto Dominion Bank Boosts Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,329 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,173 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of Ball worth $8,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in Ball by 68.9% during the 4th 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. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ball by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ball by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on BALL shares. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.00.

Ball Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $1.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $51.80. The stock had a trading volume of 3,813,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,186,344. The firm's fifty day moving average is $50.47 and its 200 day moving average is $53.71. 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 $70.07. The stock has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

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