Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 335,964 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,074 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Ball worth $17,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 6.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company's stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 11.7% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the company's stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in Ball by 0.6% in the first quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,359 shares of the company's stock worth $2,778,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Ball by 5.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,467 shares of the company's stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BALL. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $62.36.

Ball Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE BALL opened at $58.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a PE ratio of 34.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.70 and a 200 day moving average of $52.75. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $68.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Ball Company 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.

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