Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 484 Shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 0.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,128 shares of the company’s stock after selling 484 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ball were worth $3,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Ball by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,310,000 after purchasing an additional 840,357 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ball in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $190,105,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 367,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,158,668 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ball from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Ball from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $56.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Ball Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $68.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.89 and a 200-day moving average of $52.68. The company has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.08.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

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.