Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Has $1.35 Million Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 264 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its position in shares of Ball by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 122,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,775,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Ball by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 7,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in shares of Ball by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 458,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,272,000 after buying an additional 10,663 shares during the period. Dover Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $472,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of Ball by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 37,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after buying an additional 3,818 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.25.

Ball Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE BALL opened at $52.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.16, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.61. 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.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

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.