WESCAP Management Group Inc. Sells 665 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

WESCAP Management Group Inc. lowered its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,147 shares of the company’s stock after selling 665 shares during the period. WESCAP Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.8% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 30,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,514,000 after acquiring an additional 3,206 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in Ball by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 44,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Ball by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,109,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,210,000 after purchasing an additional 24,777 shares during the period. Finally, Eudaimonia Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on BALL shares. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group started coverage on Ball in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 price objective (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.15.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.59. 2,208,429 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,072,126. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.78. The stock has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.16, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.