Ball Corporation $BALL Position Trimmed by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Ball Corporation by 32.6%, selling 20,564 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with 42,548 shares worth approximately $2.22 million.
• Institutional investors now own 86.51% of Ball's stock, with several firms, including Brighton Jones LLC and Deutsche Bank AG, increasing their holdings in recent quarters.
• Ball Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, totaling $0.80 annually, which represents a 1.6% dividend yield.

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,548 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,564 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Ball were worth $2,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC increased its position in Ball by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 707 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ball during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in Ball by 764.9% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 40.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $51.24. The company had a trading volume of 1,995,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,129,264. Ball Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $68.12. The company has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.93 and a 200-day moving average of $53.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is presently 41.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total transaction of $175,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $517,355.80. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.