Sky Investment Group LLC Sells 1,780 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sky Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,780 shares during the period. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 334.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised Ball from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.17.

Ball Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BALL opened at $54.33 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $51.96 and a 1-year high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.10, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.03%.

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.