Townsend & Associates Inc Sells 1,288 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Townsend & Associates Inc cut its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,097 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,288 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Palisade Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 175,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,075,000 after purchasing an additional 4,392 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,814,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,372,000 after acquiring an additional 63,680 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Ball by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher purchased 3,869 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ball in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Citigroup started coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

Ball Price Performance

BALL traded down $0.45 during trading on Thursday, reaching $69.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,006,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,905,241. The stock has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a PE ratio of 5.24, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.22 and a 200-day moving average of $59.39.

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

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball Company 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.