Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Ball Corporation $BALL

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Ball Corporation by 21.8%, owning 124,267 shares worth approximately $6.47 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., continue to boost their holdings in Ball, with JPMorgan increasing its position by 44.2% this quarter.
• Ball Corporation recently reported earnings of $0.90 per share, exceeding expectations, along with a 12.8% year-over-year revenue growth, indicating strong performance.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124,267 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,278 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Ball were worth $6,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,787,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,685,026. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.16. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 16.81%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders 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 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chairman directly owned 10,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $517,355.80. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on BALL shares. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Six 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 MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.27.

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.