Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by Raymond James Trust N.A.

Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,994 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 444 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Ball were worth $4,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Ball by 114.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162,167 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC increased its position in Ball by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,780,000 after acquiring an additional 13,320 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Ball by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,951,000 after acquiring an additional 171,924 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after acquiring an additional 99,306 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Ball by 458.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,139,000 after purchasing an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $61.86 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $53.57 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.90. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.37.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. Ball’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.75.

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.