DAVENPORT & Co LLC Sells 36,004 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lessened its position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 61.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,524 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,004 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 764.9% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 51.3% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BALL. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.40.

Ball Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:BALL traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $58.61. The company had a trading volume of 876,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,221,522. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.08. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $54.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.66. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.62%.

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.