Franklin Resources Inc. Has $453.14 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 2.33% of Ball worth $453,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Ball by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in shares of Ball by 17.0% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Ball by 4.5% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:BALL opened at $58.24 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $54.06 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.39, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.37.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Mizuho upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

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.