North Star Asset Management Inc. Has $10.03 Million Holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ball Corporation by 4.0% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 7,343 shares and owning a total of 192,538 shares valued at approximately $10,025,000.
• In the last quarter, several hedge funds, including Franklin Resources Inc. and Invesco Ltd., made significant increases in their positions in Ball Corporation, showcasing a strong institutional interest in the company.
• Ball Corporation reported strong earnings with $0.76 EPS, surpassing estimates, and a revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, indicating a year-over-year revenue growth of 7.8%.

North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,538 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,343 shares during the quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Ball worth $10,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 764.9% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Ball by 40.4% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ball by 51.3% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ball during the first quarter worth about $83,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased 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, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $64.64.

Ball Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.86 on Friday, hitting $56.40. The stock had a trading volume of 287,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,601,260. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.40 and a 200 day moving average of $53.16. Ball Corporation has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $68.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.52, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders 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 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball's dividend 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.