Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Takes $568,000 Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after purchasing an additional 803,728 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ball by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,310,000 after buying an additional 840,357 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $190,105,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,253,000 after acquiring an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at about $94,861,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $48.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.50. The stock has a market cap of $13.73 billion, a PE ratio of 3.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The business’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.80.

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.