Geode Capital Management LLC Has $481.55 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Geode Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,115,779 shares of the company's stock after selling 85,305 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.38% of Ball worth $481,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in Ball by 598.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 334.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho raised 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.24. 1,736,007 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,837,794. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $54.06 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $62.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.45. The company has a market cap of $17.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 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 business's revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

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.