Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd Purchases 72,270 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd boosted its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 686.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,796 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,270 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd’s holdings in Ball were worth $4,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Independence Bank of Kentucky bought a new position in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball in the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 334.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the second quarter worth approximately $72,000. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 17.0% during the second 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BALL. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.83.

Ball Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $66.31 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.15. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month 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. The company has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.99, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

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.