Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $190,105,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter worth $94,861,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,310,000 after acquiring an additional 840,357 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Finally, First Merchants Corp boosted its position in Ball by 1,335.8% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 619,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,137,000 after buying an additional 576,078 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $48.81 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. 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 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for 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. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.20.

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.