Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases 4,321 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ball Corporation by 2.3% in the first quarter, now owning approximately $9.98 million worth of stock.
• Several hedge funds have modified their positions in Ball, with institutional investors now holding 86.51% of the company's stock.
• Ball Corporation recently reported earnings of $0.76 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and has a current dividend yield of 1.36%.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,593 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,321 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Ball worth $9,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter worth $190,105,000. London Co. of Virginia boosted its stake in Ball by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company's stock valued at $168,389,000 after buying an additional 1,158,668 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Ball by 359.3% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,184,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,299,000 after buying an additional 926,728 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ball by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,310,000 after buying an additional 840,357 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on BALL. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of BALL traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $57.01. The company had a trading volume of 2,883,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,620,431. The firm has a market cap of $15.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $56.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.16. 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 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $68.12.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Ball's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is currently 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.