Boston Trust Walden Corp Acquires 12,665 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 229,173 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,665 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 0.08% of Ball worth $11,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Ball by 764.9% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 51.3% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Ball Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE BALL traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $56.18. 8,579,513 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,241,336. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.44, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.19 and a 200-day moving average of $52.76. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Ball's payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Ball Company 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.