Natural Investments LLC Invests $1.25 Million in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 22,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,249,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Ball by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Ball by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,055,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Ball by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,302,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,742,000 after purchasing an additional 301,246 shares during the period. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.64.

Ball Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BALL opened at $53.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.13. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of 4.26, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.