Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,976 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,160 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Down 0.1 %

Ball stock opened at $57.76 on Wednesday. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $54.06 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.16. The company has a market capitalization of $17.24 billion, a PE ratio of 4.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 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.