DRW Securities LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

DRW Securities LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 19.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,714 shares of the company’s stock after selling 878 shares during the quarter. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,825,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Ball by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 5,770 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 61.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after buying an additional 19,266 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the third quarter worth approximately $416,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 59,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

Ball Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BALL stock opened at $62.59 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $53.69 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.19.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

About 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.