Fmr LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Fmr LLC raised its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 15.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 1.48% of Ball worth $300,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after buying an additional 836,293 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Ball by 17.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,326,000 after purchasing an additional 241,502 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Ball by 402.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after purchasing an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new position in Ball during the second quarter worth about $11,896,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on BALL. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 0.7 %

BALL opened at $62.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.64 and its 200-day moving average is $64.09. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $54.06 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. Analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

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.