Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Invests $909,000 in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $909,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Ball by 598.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth $66,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $57.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $62.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.69. 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 stock has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.