M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

M&T Bank Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,360 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,079 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 146.6% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,470,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,730,000 after acquiring an additional 874,325 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,406,000 after purchasing an additional 833,494 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $17,791,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,469,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,149,000 after buying an additional 282,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Ball by 394.0% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 313,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,591,000 after buying an additional 249,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.23.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $69.89 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $22.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.26, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.31.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted 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%. The company’s revenue was down 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, with a total value of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares in the company, valued at $7,222,068.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.