Meeder Asset Management Inc. Buys 130,175 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 400.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 162,690 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 130,175 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $11,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 306.6% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 23,941 shares during the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 7.3% in the second quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 153,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,211,000 after purchasing an additional 10,427 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Ball by 436.8% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 18,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 14,655 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $12,292,000. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ball by 12.3% in the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $60.86 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $51.65 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a PE ratio of 4.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

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.