Metis Global Partners LLC Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,898 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,415,214,000 after buying an additional 267,479 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Ball by 114.1% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162,167 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 7.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,951,000 after purchasing an additional 171,924 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Ball by 6.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,864,000 after buying an additional 99,306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BALL opened at $60.92 on Monday. 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 $51.62 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.51 and a 200-day moving average of $64.58.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.