Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Stock Position Lifted by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,873 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BALL. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Ball in the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth $47,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Ball by 598.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 334.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 29.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $60.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $48.35 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.