Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,431 Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.40.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $52.18 on Monday. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $70.97. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of 4.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.62%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.