Greenleaf Trust Cuts Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Greenleaf Trust cut its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,612 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Ball in the second quarter worth about $234,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Ball by 8.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at $1,453,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in Ball by 4.6% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,199,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 143.6% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 5,819 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $55.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.20, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.25. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $51.96 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.