Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,788 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,507 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,073,000. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in Ball by 210.8% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 12,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 8,341 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Ball by 5.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Ball by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 89,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,111,000 after buying an additional 18,327 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Ball by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 28,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BALL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BALL opened at $62.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a PE ratio of 4.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.91. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $54.06 and a 52-week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio 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.