Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the second quarter worth about $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Down 5.7 %

BALL stock opened at $57.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.87. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $54.06 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $17.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.34, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.91.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball presently has a consensus 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.