Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Kidder Stephen W

Kidder Stephen W reduced its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 77.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,280 shares of the company's stock after selling 53,310 shares during the period. Kidder Stephen W's holdings in Ball were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Ball by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company's stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 28,284 shares of the company's stock worth $1,559,000 after buying an additional 8,599 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $5,822,000. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 208,037 shares of the company's stock worth $11,469,000 after purchasing an additional 13,345 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BALL. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four 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 an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $59.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,593,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,824,443. 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 stock has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.01. Ball Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

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.