Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Purchased by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,123 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 515 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quilter Plc acquired a new position in Ball in the 1st quarter worth $401,172,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ball in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Covington Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 112.1% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Deron Goodwin sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.85, for a total transaction of $26,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $634,252.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider David A. Kaufman sold 3,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.41, for a total value of $200,206.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $464,405.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Deron Goodwin sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.85, for a total transaction of $26,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,252.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $52.38 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $62.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.11.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 30th. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Credit Suisse Group lowered shares of Ball from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $65.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.40.

About Ball

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.