Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) Stock Position Reduced by Boston Partners

Key Points

• Boston Partners has reduced its holdings in Ball Corporation by 25.2%, selling over 1.2 million shares, leaving them with a total of 3,809,429 shares valued at approximately $198 million.
• Ball Corporation recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, with a yield of 1.5% and a payout ratio of 41.45%.
• The company's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting an EPS of $0.90 against a consensus of $0.87, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 12.8%.

Boston Partners trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 25.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,809,429 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,281,615 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned about 1.37% of Ball worth $198,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ball by 12.1% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 39,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 4,289 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ball by 5.0% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 122,483 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,378,000 after buying an additional 5,841 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 12.2% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 55,997 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,916,000 after buying an additional 6,106 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the first quarter worth approximately $307,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Ball by 19.5% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,481 shares of the company's stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price target (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.27.

Ball Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.19 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $56.72 and a 200 day moving average of $53.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Ball's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is 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.