Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Boosts Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 176,397 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,670 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of Ball worth $9,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in Ball by 531,933.3% in the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 47,874 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after buying an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after acquiring an additional 18,809 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $52.34 on Thursday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.30.

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.