ING Groep NV Invests $2.76 Million in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 40,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,757,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 598.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 334.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Ball by 29.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 1.6 %

Ball stock opened at $60.92 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $51.62 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.51 and its 200-day moving average is $64.61.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 currently 6.03%.

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.