Ball Corporation $BALL Shares Sold by Parnassus Investments LLC

Key Points

• Parnassus Investments LLC sold 3,271,892 shares of Ball Corporation, reducing its holdings by 17.4% in the first quarter, leaving the firm with approximately 15.56 million shares.
• Several institutional investors, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Invesco Ltd., increased their holdings in Ball Corporation during the same period, reflecting continued interest from large funds.
• Ball announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 2nd, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.5%.

Parnassus Investments LLC cut its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 17.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,563,406 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,271,892 shares during the period. Ball makes up about 1.9% of Parnassus Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Parnassus Investments LLC owned approximately 5.61% of Ball worth $810,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $501,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $803,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its position in shares of Ball by 1.4% in the first quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 104,078 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Broyhill Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 8.1% in the first quarter. Broyhill Asset Management LLC now owns 65,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,405,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $866,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Six investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ball news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total value of $175,270.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 10,036 shares in the company, valued at $517,355.80. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ball Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of BALL traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,410,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,613,165. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $68.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.06. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $56.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.19.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm'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 expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Ball's payout ratio is presently 41.45%.

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.