LPL Financial LLC Reduces Stock Position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

LPL Financial LLC lessened its holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 258,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,884 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Ball worth $13,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Ball by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in Ball by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,778,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Notis McConarty Edward raised its holdings in Ball by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Notis McConarty Edward now owns 43,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Ball by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 21,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of Ball stock opened at $52.52 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12. The stock has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 16.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Loop Capital cut their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.64.

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.