Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by NFJ Investment Group LLC

NFJ Investment Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 536,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,469 shares during the period. Ball accounts for 1.1% of NFJ Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned about 0.18% of Ball worth $36,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 306.6% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 23,941 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 153,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,211,000 after acquiring an additional 10,427 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 400.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 162,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,048,000 after acquiring an additional 130,175 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ball by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,293,000 after purchasing an additional 47,539 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.39. The company had a trading volume of 180,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,894. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.64 and its 200 day moving average is $64.04. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 4.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.91. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $54.06 and a twelve month 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 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 analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. 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 1.28%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.