Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 2.60% of Ball worth $427,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $774,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,861,000. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in shares of Ball by 531,933.3% during the fourth quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 47,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 47,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 37,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,053,000 after buying an additional 18,809 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.30.

Ball Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $52.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.78. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.95 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

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.