Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by River Global Investors LLP

River Global Investors LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 83.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,663 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,338 shares during the period. River Global Investors LLP’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners grew its position in Ball by 114.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,162,167 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Ball by 458.6% during the 2nd 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. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,193,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,214,000 after buying an additional 267,479 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its position in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,520,000 after acquiring an additional 261,303 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.26. 1,368,325 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,758,796. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued 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 business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

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.