Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,070,511 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,406 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.36% of Ball worth $59,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 298.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup decreased 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $51.83 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.57. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.95 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

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 firm had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.32%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.