Dover Advisors LLC Invests $472,000 in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Dover Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $774,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after acquiring an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,825,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 46.3% during the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,681,000 after acquiring an additional 87,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 47,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 1.8 %

Ball stock opened at $51.35 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.97. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $48.95 and a 1-year high of $71.32. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

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.