Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $26 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 481,229 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,121 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $26,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position 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 last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 298.9% during the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $51.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.88. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

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

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