Ball Co. (BLL) VP Scott C. Morrison Sells 2,167 Shares


Ball Co. (NYSE:BLL) VP Scott C. Morrison sold 2,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $81,934.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Shares of Ball traded up $0.06, reaching $38.02, on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. 1,760,000 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,034,498. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $35.60 and a twelve month high of $43.24. The firm has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.


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Ball (NYSE:BLL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The industrial products company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.05. Ball had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 19.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.


Ball declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 25th that allows the company to buyback 25,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 31st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 19.61%.


Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLL. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $121,000. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 63.0% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 3,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $164,000. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter worth approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.93% of the company’s stock.


A number of brokerages recently commented on BLL. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ball from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 6th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Ball from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 13th. ValuEngine lowered shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.


About Ball

Ball Corporation supplies metal packaging products to the beverage, food, personal care, and household products industries. It operates in five segments: Beverage Packaging, North and Central America; Beverage Packaging, South America; Beverage Packaging, Europe; Food and Aerosol Packaging; and Aerospace.

Insider Buying and Selling by Quarter for Ball (NYSE:BLL)

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