Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $1.40 Million Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 556 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Ball were worth $1,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball in the second quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in shares of Ball by 17.0% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Homestead Advisers Corp raised its position in shares of Ball by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 1,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $66.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $63.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.14. The stock has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a PE ratio of 4.99, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 32.79% and a return on equity of 19.45%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ball from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

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.