Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Stake Boosted by London Co. of Virginia

London Co. of Virginia grew its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 61.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,054,393 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,158,668 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia owned 1.02% of Ball worth $168,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $52.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,182,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,140,394. 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 stock's 50-day moving average price is $50.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.09. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $70.97. The company has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 4.18, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend 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 authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.