Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Sells 62,006 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 76.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,805 shares of the company's stock after selling 62,006 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $1,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its holdings in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock worth $104,253,000 after buying an additional 36,809 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 63.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company's stock worth $28,875,000 after buying an additional 203,298 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Ball by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,053,000 after acquiring an additional 18,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.00.

Ball Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:BALL opened at $53.77 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.85. The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 4.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.08. The company's 50 day moving average is $50.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm 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 firm's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

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.

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