Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Takes $1.83 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 35,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,833,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,695,575,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,145,245,000. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $666,807,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $419,203,000. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP bought a new position in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $281,391,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ball from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Ball from $58.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.67.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $53.69 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.54. The firm has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. Ball Co. has a 1-year low of $46.00 and a 1-year high of $74.49.

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.57 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 23.92% and a net margin of 2.98%. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Ball Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for beverages, foods, and household products. It operates through the following business segments: Beverage Packaging North and Central America, Beverage Packaging South America, Beverage Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Aerospace. The Beverage Packaging North and Central America segment includes multi-year supply contracts to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.