Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) Shares Bought by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 480,660 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 22,244 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 0.17% of Ball worth $25,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 764.9% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 51.3% during the first 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. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the first quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of BALL traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $58.79. 2,250,959 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,223,719. The firm has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. Ball Corporation has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $68.12. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $54.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.70.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.40.

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.