Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 49.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,326 shares of the company's stock after selling 53,028 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Ball were worth $2,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ulysses Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Ulysses Management LLC now owns 575,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,700,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 26.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $8,603,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Ball by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 9,300 shares of the company's stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.00.

Ball Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,469,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,192,581. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $70.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.56. 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 company has a market cap of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.