DAVENPORT & Co LLC Lowers Stock Position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lowered its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 61.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,524 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,004 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Ball were worth $1,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Ball by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 39,718 shares of the company's stock worth $2,044,000 after purchasing an additional 4,289 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Ball by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 122,483 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,378,000 after acquiring an additional 5,841 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,861,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 worth $2,916,000 after buying an additional 6,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the first quarter worth about $307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BALL. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.36.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.99. 1,736,718 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,224,439. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Ball Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week high of $68.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.73.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm 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 was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

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.