WESCAP Management Group Inc. Has $1.33 Million Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

WESCAP Management Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 507 shares during the quarter. WESCAP Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Ball by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ball by 1.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of Ball stock opened at $57.56 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $54.06 and a 12 month high of $71.32. 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.18 billion, a PE ratio of 4.34, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.87.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

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.