iA Global Asset Management Inc. Buys 1,135 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,772 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ball by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.5% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,780,000 after purchasing an additional 13,320 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ball by 7.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Ball by 6.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,864,000 after purchasing an additional 99,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Ball by 458.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after purchasing an additional 836,293 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 1.0 %

BALL stock opened at $57.68 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $54.06 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.95 and its 200 day moving average is $63.69. The company has a market capitalization of $17.21 billion, a PE ratio of 4.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho cut their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.