Gotham Asset Management LLC Sells 20,220 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Gotham Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,231 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,220 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $4,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Ball by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 6,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Elefante Mark B purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,489,000. Ethic Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 40,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,345 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Ball by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 937,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its position in shares of Ball by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 1,196,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,940,000 after acquiring an additional 138,651 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Mizuho decreased their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.40.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $52.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $70.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.30 and a 200 day moving average of $54.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.62%.

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

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.