Independent Advisor Alliance Cuts Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Independent Advisor Alliance trimmed its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,834 shares of the company’s stock after selling 229 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Ball were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 57.1% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 3,610 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $12,292,000. Burney Co. increased its position in Ball by 1.4% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 36,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Ball by 307.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 93,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,312,000 after purchasing an additional 70,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ball by 48.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 21,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after purchasing an additional 7,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $53.69 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.18.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Baird R W raised shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

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.