Drake & Associates LLC Has $352,000 Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Drake & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,188 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the quarter. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BALL. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 598.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 334.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the second quarter worth approximately $72,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on BALL. Citigroup increased their price target on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.08.

Ball Stock Performance

Ball stock opened at $66.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.00 and its 200 day moving average is $65.21. The company has a market capitalization of $20.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.03, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.88. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $42.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

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.