Geode Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Geode Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,115,779 shares of the company’s stock after selling 85,305 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $481,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BALL. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ball by 400.4% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,048,000 after acquiring an additional 130,175 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 9.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,293,000 after buying an additional 47,539 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ball by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,951,000 after acquiring an additional 171,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,681,000 after buying an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

Ball Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $57.98 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $62.20 and a 200-day moving average of $63.45. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $54.06 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 4.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

About Ball

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.