67,386 Shares in Ball Corporation $BALL Purchased by Sciencast Management LP

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP acquired 67,386 shares of Ball Corporation, valued at approximately $3.5 million, marking a significant investment during the first quarter.
• Ball Corporation recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.6%, set to be paid to stockholders on September 16th.
• According to Wall Street analysts, Ball Corporation has an average target price of $65.27, with six analysts rating the stock as a Buy.

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 67,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,509,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 44.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,002,327 shares of the company's stock valued at $416,681,000 after buying an additional 2,453,630 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 5.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,370,274 shares of the company's stock valued at $227,560,000 after buying an additional 210,838 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ball by 10.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,370,532 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,480,000 after buying an additional 315,091 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia boosted its position in shares of Ball by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,389,000 after buying an additional 1,158,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,046,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $158,623,000 after buying an additional 19,921 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total transaction of $175,270.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,355.80. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,995,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,129,264. The firm has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Ball Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.81% and a net margin of 4.49%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is presently 41.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.27.

Ball Company 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.