40,599 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Bought by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 40,599 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,757,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,898 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Ball by 402.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company's stock worth $18,014,000 after acquiring an additional 212,430 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 10.0% in the third quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 8,873 shares of the company's stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its position in Ball by 44.6% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 11,392 shares of the company's stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 3,512 shares during the period. Finally, Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 46.3% in the third quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 275,083 shares of the company's stock worth $18,681,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE:BALL traded down $1.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $60.92. 2,020,557 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,784,947. 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 1 year low of $51.62 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.61.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

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.