Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Hartford Investment Management Co.

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,412 shares of the company’s stock after selling 705 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 29.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.25.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $49.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.94, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.58.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted 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. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.