Boston Common Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 45.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,220 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 108,679 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Ball worth $19,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ball in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Ball by 598.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Ball by 334.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised shares of Ball from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho raised Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.17.

Ball Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Ball stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $54.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,119,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,777,062. The company has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $51.96 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $57.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.58.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Ball's payout ratio 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.