Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 85,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,698 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Ball by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Ball by 2.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $61.86 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.08 and its 200-day moving average is $64.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $53.57 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on BALL shares. 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. Citigroup upped their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.