Cannell & Spears LLC Decreases Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Cannell & Spears LLC cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 194,882 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,002 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $10,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 9,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $51.45 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.88. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. 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 (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

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.