Barclays PLC Lowers Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Barclays PLC decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 806,061 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,538 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.27% of Ball worth $54,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Ball by 598.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 334.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $57.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.91. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $54.06 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.45. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.