Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Director Pedro Henrique Mariani Sells 5,000 Shares

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ball Stock Down 2.2 %

Ball stock opened at $68.55 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.03. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.16, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 21.79%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jag Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Ball by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% in the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.9% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 22,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.23.

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.