Invesco Ltd. Acquires 210,838 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,370,274 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 210,838 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.58% of Ball worth $227,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ball by 44.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,002,327 shares of the company's stock worth $416,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453,630 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ball during the first quarter worth $5,798,000. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Ball by 417.3% during the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 52,194 shares of the company's stock worth $2,718,000 after acquiring an additional 42,105 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Ball by 5.8% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 148,519 shares of the company's stock worth $7,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 84.5% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 226,450 shares of the company's stock worth $11,791,000 after acquiring an additional 103,712 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 0.4%

BALL stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,398,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,517,731. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 16.81% and a net margin of 4.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued 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 yield of 1.5%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho raised their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.27.

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.