Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock after selling 234 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 13.1% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 216,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,692,000 after acquiring an additional 25,048 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Broderick Brian C raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 37.7% during the third quarter. Broderick Brian C now owns 70,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,769,000 after acquiring an additional 19,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,757,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE BALL opened at $60.92 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $51.62 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BALL shares. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.