NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $36.42 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

NFJ Investment Group LLC trimmed its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 536,278 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,469 shares during the quarter. Ball comprises 1.1% of NFJ Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $36,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Ball by 458.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after buying an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after purchasing an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,326,000 after purchasing an additional 241,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Ball by 402.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 265,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,014,000 after buying an additional 212,430 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.39. The company had a trading volume of 180,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,894. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.64 and its 200-day moving average is $64.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.91. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $54.06 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.75.

Ball 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.