7,511 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Bought by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 334.0% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BALL. 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $57.82 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.92 and its 200 day moving average is $63.25. The firm has a market cap of $17.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.36, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. 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 $54.06 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

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.