IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,579 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,961 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,910,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,214,000 after acquiring an additional 267,479 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in Ball by 114.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162,167 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC raised its stake in Ball by 0.5% during the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,780,000 after purchasing an additional 13,320 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Ball by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,326,000 after buying an additional 241,502 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. 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 report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.25.

Ball Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $67.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.88. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.20.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

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.