Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Blueshift Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 8.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,418 shares of the company’s stock after selling 505 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 114.1% during the first 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 period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 836,293 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 17.5% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,326,000 after buying an additional 241,502 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.72, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.72 and its 200-day moving average is $64.18. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $53.69 and a 1 year 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball 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.