American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Stake in Ball Corporation $BALL

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Ball Corporation by 2.6% during Q1, owning approximately 0.18% of the company worth around $26 million after selling 13,377 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Cary Street Partners and Whipplewood Advisors, have made notable adjustments to their holdings in Ball, with some increasing their stake significantly.
• Ball Corp reported better-than-expected earnings with an EPS of $0.90 for the last quarter, and they declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share.

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 501,600 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,377 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Ball worth $26,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 72.4% in the first quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 707 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 764.9% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 40.4% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BALL. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.27.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $53.7030 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.56 and a 200 day moving average of $53.07. The stock has a market cap of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $68.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. Ball had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 16.81%. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Ball's payout ratio is currently 41.45%.

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.

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