Mirova US LLC Increases Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Mirova US LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 49.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 833,494 shares during the quarter. Ball accounts for about 2.2% of Mirova US LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Mirova US LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $145,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Ball by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,252,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,020,000 after buying an additional 143,005 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,469,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,149,000 after purchasing an additional 282,114 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 309,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,430,000 after purchasing an additional 140,440 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 389,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,384,000 after purchasing an additional 16,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 85,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,245,000 after purchasing an additional 17,215 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other Ball news, insider Daniel William Fisher acquired 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on BALL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Ball to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $71.00 target price (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.58.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.77. 2,377,198 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,506,286. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.09. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $67.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The firm has a market cap of $20.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.89.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

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.