National Pension Service Boosts Stake in Ball Corporation $BALL

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its Ball stake by 12.4% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 152,525 shares valued at approximately $9.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.51% of the company.
• Ball exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.03 versus the $0.99 consensus and revenue of $4 billion, up 19.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $71.69.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, equivalent to $0.80 annually and a 1.3% yield. Separately, SVP Mandy Glew sold 5,626 shares, reducing her direct ownership by 43.83%.

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 12.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,525 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,844 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.06% of Ball worth $9,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Ball by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company's stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 402.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 83,995 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,356,000 after purchasing an additional 67,289 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,167 shares of the company's stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter valued at about $453,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter valued at about $696,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ball

In related news, SVP Mandy Glew sold 5,626 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.80, for a total transaction of $358,938.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,209 shares in the company, valued at $459,934.20. This represents a 43.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial set a $78.00 target price on Ball in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ball from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective (up from $60.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $71.69.

Ball Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE BALL opened at $60.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.95. Ball Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.83 and a 1-year high of $68.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.76 and a 200-day moving average of $60.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 6.61%.Ball's revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Ball has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.930- EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. Ball's payout ratio is presently 22.66%.

About Ball

Ball Corporation NYSE: BALL is a global manufacturer of sustainable aluminum packaging products. The company primarily serves the beverage, personal care and household-product industries, producing aluminum beverage cans, bottles, aerosol containers and related packaging solutions. Its products are used by brand owners and manufacturers across a range of consumer markets.

Founded in 1880 as a manufacturer of glass containers, Ball gradually transitioned toward metal packaging and became best known for its aluminum beverage-can business.

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