Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) is Tran Capital Management L.P.’s 6th Largest Position

Tran Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 647,646 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,230 shares during the period. Ball makes up about 4.9% of Tran Capital Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Tran Capital Management L.P. owned approximately 0.21% of Ball worth $43,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 40.0% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Barclays upped their price target on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.54.

Ball Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $60.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,097,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,404,098. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.90 and a 200-day moving average of $63.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors 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 buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

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.