Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 29.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,677,221 shares of the company's stock after selling 688,172 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.56% of Ball worth $113,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the third quarter valued at $47,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at $47,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.
NYSE BALL opened at $57.68 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $54.06 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.69. 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 company has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.91.
Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BALL. Citigroup upped their target price on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.75.
Read Our Latest Analysis on 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.
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