Stifel Financial Corp Decreases Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 43,828 shares of the company’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Ball by 668.3% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after buying an additional 6,676 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Ball by 8.2% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 137,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,317,000 after buying an additional 10,359 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its stake in Ball by 46.9% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth $909,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BALL 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. 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.

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 company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BALL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

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.