Palisade Asset Management LLC Purchases 4,392 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 175,156 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,392 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $10,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Ball by 80.4% in the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Ball in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.89. 2,056,140 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,908,122. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.14. The company has a market capitalization of $22.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.21, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.