South Dakota Investment Council Purchases 6,200 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 50.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,429 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,200 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council's holdings in Ball were worth $960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BALL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 764.9% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 500 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the first quarter worth $83,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the first quarter worth $91,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE BALL traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $59.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 526,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,626,356. Ball Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $68.12. The company has a market capitalization of $16.40 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $55.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Ball's payout ratio is 47.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BALL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.64.

About Ball

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.