Broderick Brian C Raises Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Broderick Brian C increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,219 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,220 shares during the quarter. Broderick Brian C’s holdings in Ball were worth $4,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,757,000. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 402.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,014,000 after buying an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 10.0% during the third quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 8,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Ball by 44.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 11,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 3,512 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BALL. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. 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. Citigroup upped 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $61.94 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $51.15 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released 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 company 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 firm posted $0.83 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 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.