Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 828 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 828 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ball were worth $701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,372,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,022,000. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,909 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after acquiring an additional 998,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,527,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,406,000 after acquiring an additional 833,494 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.08.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.25. 1,155,070 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,673,879. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.12 and its 200 day moving average is $63.83. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The business’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 business earned $0.69 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.