Lbp Am Sa Sells 20,931 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

LBP AM SA lowered its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 566,168 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,931 shares during the period. LBP AM SA owned 0.20% of Ball worth $29,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ball by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company's stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Ball by 11.7% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the company's stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in Ball by 0.6% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,359 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,778,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Ball by 1.7% in the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 21,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Up 0.8%

BALL traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $58.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,609,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,223,259. Ball Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $68.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $54.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.75.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for 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. Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is 47.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 target price (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital cut their target price on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ball has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.36.

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.