Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 8,851 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Ball Corporation by 1.7%, holding 521,155 shares worth approximately $27.14 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Ball's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations with an EPS of $0.76 against a consensus estimate of $0.69, contributing to a year-over-year revenue increase of 7.8%.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, set to be paid on September 16, with a dividend yield of 1.4%.

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 521,155 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,851 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.18% of Ball worth $27,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball by 0.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 152,662 shares of the company's stock worth $7,949,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Ball by 6.1% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 24,361 shares of the company's stock worth $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ball by 34.1% in the first quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,987 shares of the company's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Ball by 5.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,372 shares of the company's stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in Ball in the first quarter worth $3,839,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL traded down $2.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,514,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,617,851. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $56.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.18. Ball Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $68.12. The firm has a market cap of $15.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.64.

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.