Candriam S.C.A. Has $35.09 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Candriam S.C.A. decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 21.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 584,577 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162,838 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.19% of Ball worth $35,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Ball by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 86.6% during the second quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 187,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,282,000 after purchasing an additional 87,207 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ball by 17.1% during the second quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Ball by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL opened at $64.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a PE ratio of 4.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.88. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several research reports. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.85.

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.