Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Decreases Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 403,374 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,846 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Ball were worth $27,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. 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 purchasing an additional 267,479 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Ball by 114.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,347,000 after buying an additional 2,162,167 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 0.5% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,495,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,780,000 after acquiring an additional 13,320 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ball by 7.7% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Up 0.9 %

BALL stock opened at $59.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of 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. Mizuho decreased their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

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.