37,078 Shares in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Purchased by Evernest Financial Advisors LLC

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 37,078 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,518,000. Ball comprises 0.7% of Evernest Financial Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company's stock worth $2,415,214,000 after buying an additional 267,479 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Ball by 114.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company's stock worth $273,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,162,167 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC lifted its position in Ball by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company's stock worth $149,780,000 after acquiring an additional 13,320 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ball by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,414,615 shares of the company's stock worth $144,951,000 after acquiring an additional 171,924 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Ball by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,720,859 shares of the company's stock worth $116,864,000 after acquiring an additional 99,306 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised Ball from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Ball from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.08.

Ball Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $65.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,151,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,802,800. The firm has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.18.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball's payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball Company 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.