Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $1.70 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,807 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $51.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 4.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.93. Ball Co. has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32.

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

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 repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BALL. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

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.