Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $144.95 Million Stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,414,615 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 171,924 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.78% of Ball worth $144,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 114.1% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,347,000 after buying an additional 2,162,167 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 39.5% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 5,815,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,909 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ball by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 21,062,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,211,527,000 after purchasing an additional 998,527 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,193,000. Finally, Platinum Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Ball by 11,074.9% in the 4th quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 558,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,152,000 after purchasing an additional 553,967 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $66.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.58 billion, a PE ratio of 4.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.14.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given 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 6.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

Ball Profile

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.