Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Lowers Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank trimmed its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 56.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,868 shares of the company’s stock after selling 79,029 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,252,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,020,000 after buying an additional 143,005 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,469,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,149,000 after purchasing an additional 282,114 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 309,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,430,000 after purchasing an additional 140,440 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 389,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,384,000 after purchasing an additional 16,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 85,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,245,000 after purchasing an additional 17,215 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In related news, insider Daniel William Fisher bought 3,869 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $64.56 per share, for a total transaction of $249,782.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 111,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,222,068.96. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $65.43 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.89. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $67.97.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.56 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 5.04%. The company’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Ball’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BALL. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ball to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ball from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $71.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.58.

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.