Provident Investment Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Provident Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,410 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Provident Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ball by 2,341.5% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ball in the second quarter worth approximately $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $64.28 on Tuesday. Ball Co. has a one year low of $42.81 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.98. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $19.51 billion, a PE ratio of 4.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.88.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BALL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.85.

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.