Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 800 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new position in Ball during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2,341.5% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $74,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $64.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.82, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.79. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $42.81 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BALL. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.08.

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.