Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,023 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 10.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,988 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,023 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ball were worth $610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Ball by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 37.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 436.8% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 18,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 14,655 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter worth $270,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Mizuho lowered their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised 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 note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $60.86 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.53. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $51.65 and a 52-week high of $71.32. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $18.16 billion, a PE ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date 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.