Swiss National Bank Sells 10,800 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 921,188 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of Ball worth $62,558,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 0.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Ball by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 7.6% in the third quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $59.91 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.47. 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 capitalization of $17.88 billion, a PE ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $51.65 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho cut their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.75.

Ball 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.