Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Buys 667 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,406 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 298.9% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ball by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $48.54 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.82 and a 200 day moving average of $57.34. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $46.26 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.83, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BALL. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

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.