Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Shares Acquired by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 275.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 119,187 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 87,437 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $8,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ball by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Ball by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ball by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 46,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Up 0.8 %

BALL stock opened at $59.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $48.05 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

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.