Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) Position Raised by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,370,274 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 210,838 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Ball were worth $227,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ball by 44.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,002,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453,630 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,447,000 after buying an additional 367,798 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 3,054,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,389,000 after buying an additional 1,158,668 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,026,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,847,000 after buying an additional 396,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,147,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,403,000 after buying an additional 207,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $54.92 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Ball Corporation has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $68.12. The company has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 16.81%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 41.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on BALL. Citigroup upped their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ball from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.27.

Ball 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.