Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases New Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $275,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its position in Ball by 531,933.3% in the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company's stock worth $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 63.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,875,000 after purchasing an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on BALL. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.70.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.72. The company had a trading volume of 2,965,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,127,519. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $70.97. The firm has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.01, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $50.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. Ball's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business 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 is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Ball's payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's leadership 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.