Scotia Capital Inc. Grows Stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Key Points

• Scotia Capital Inc. has increased its stake in Ball Corporation by 8.3%, owning 73,783 shares valued at $3.84 million after purchasing an additional 5,626 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Ball Corporation, with Citigroup increasing it from $55.00 to $63.00 and Royal Bank of Canada from $62.00 to $63.00.
• Ball Corporation recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.4%.

Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,783 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,626 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Ball were worth $3,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 40.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ball by 51.3% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the first quarter valued at $83,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $66.00 price target (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.64.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $57.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.04. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $68.12. The company's fifty day moving average is $56.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.18.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

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