California State Teachers Retirement System Makes New $25.52 Million Investment in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 528,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,515,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,695,575,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,145,245,000. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $666,807,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $419,203,000. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter valued at about $281,391,000. Institutional investors own 82.65% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 1.2 %

BALL opened at $51.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.88. Ball Co. has a twelve month low of $46.00 and a twelve month high of $94.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.78.

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.10). Ball had a net margin of 4.68% and a return on equity of 24.47%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Ball’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John A. Hayes sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.40, for a total transaction of $5,840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 480,552 shares in the company, valued at $28,064,236.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ball Company Profile

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Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging North and Central America, Beverage Packaging South America, Beverage Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Aerospace. The Beverage Packaging North and Central America segment includes multi-year supply contracts to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.