Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 2,856 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 88,913 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,856 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $5,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth $72,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Ball by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ball by 58.6% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $66.31 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $63.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.15. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $42.81 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.83.

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.