SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 55,827 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 130.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98,736 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,827 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $288,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $1,099,000. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 8,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,605,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,935,016. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.30. The company has a market capitalization of $19.34 billion, a PE ratio of 4.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BALL. UBS Group raised their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.08.

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.