Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 25.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,984 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,327 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Ball were worth $6,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Quarry LP increased its position in Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Stock Down 0.7 %

BALL stock opened at $62.16 on Monday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $63.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.04. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.69, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.90. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $54.06 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus 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.