Balefire LLC Raises Holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Balefire LLC boosted its position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 22.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,291 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,572 shares during the quarter. Balefire LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $2,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $94,861,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,891,046 shares of the company's stock worth $104,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,809 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Ball by 53.0% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 38,289 shares of the company's stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 13,262 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in Ball by 63.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 523,765 shares of the company's stock worth $28,875,000 after purchasing an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $956,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL opened at $56.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.51 and a 1-year high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

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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