Bank of Stockton Makes New Investment in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Bank of Stockton acquired a new stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

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

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.71. 315,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,792,046. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.82, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.17. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $45.49 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.08.

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.