Stephens Inc. AR Sells 990 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Stephens Inc. AR cut its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,145 shares of the company’s stock after selling 990 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ball were worth $757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,415,214,000 after buying an additional 267,479 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Ball by 114.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162,167 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its position in Ball by 0.5% during the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,780,000 after purchasing an additional 13,320 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 valued at $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after buying an additional 99,306 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Mizuho reduced their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $59.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.90. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $48.05 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its 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. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.