Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Sells 206,748 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. has decreased its stake in Ball Corporation by 25.6%, selling 206,748 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 600,657 shares valued at approximately $31.3 million.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets on Ball Corporation, with estimates ranging from $54.00 to $69.00, influencing a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Ball Corporation reported a 7.8% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings of $0.76 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lessened its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 25.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 600,657 shares of the company's stock after selling 206,748 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. owned about 0.21% of Ball worth $31,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Ball by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 155,735 shares of the company's stock worth $8,109,000 after buying an additional 2,580 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 37.9% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 126,459 shares of the company's stock worth $6,585,000 after acquiring an additional 34,767 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Ball by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,266 shares of the company's stock valued at $587,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball in the 1st quarter worth $384,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ball by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 77,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.64.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $0.69 on Thursday, reaching $57.40. 1,103,256 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,604,496. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.32 and a 200-day moving average of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Ball's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

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.