Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by JGP Wealth Management LLC

JGP Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,826 shares of the company’s stock after selling 822 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after buying an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 buying an additional 171,924 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,864,000 after buying an additional 99,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 458.6% in 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 buying an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $54.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.09, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.67. 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 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. 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. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.17.

Ball Company 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.