Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $5.87 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 106,498 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,285 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $51.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $48.95 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.74 and a 200-day moving average of $59.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BALL. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.25.

Ball Company 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.