Amundi Reduces Stock Position in Ball Corporation $BALL

Key Points

• Amundi has reduced its stake in Ball Corporation by 18.5%, now holding approximately 1,061,795 shares valued at $53.7 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 1.6%.
• Ball's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $0.90, surpassing estimates, with a revenue increase of 12.8% year-over-year.

Amundi cut its holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,061,795 shares of the company's stock after selling 241,128 shares during the period. Amundi owned 0.38% of Ball worth $53,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its position in Ball by 72.4% in the first quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 707 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ball in the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 764.9% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Ball by 40.4% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other Ball news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of Ball stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total value 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.27.

Ball Price Performance

BALL traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.24. 1,995,081 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,129,264. The company has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $54.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.18. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Ball's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.