MQS Management LLC Takes Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ball in the 4th quarter valued at $168,372,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Ball by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 9,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

BALL stock opened at $67.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.12. 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 current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 5.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.83.

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.