Pitcairn Co. Decreases Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Pitcairn Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,210 shares of the company’s stock after selling 401 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Ball were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,162,167 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,780,000 after purchasing an additional 13,320 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ball by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,951,000 after buying an additional 171,924 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings 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. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Ball by 458.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after buying an additional 836,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock opened at $62.59 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $63.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $53.69 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

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.