Commerce Bank Sells 4,388 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Commerce Bank trimmed its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,961 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,388 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $47.35 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a PE ratio of 3.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho cut their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.30.

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.