Veracity Capital LLC Raises Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,739 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE BALL opened at $60.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a PE ratio of 4.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.85. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business’s revenue was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. TheStreet upgraded Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Ball in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In related news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.