Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 682,351 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,959 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Ball worth $35,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Ball by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 4th quarter worth about $2,401,000. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,805 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 7,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 367.7% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 1,618 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Ball from $83.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ball from $65.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Ball Price Performance

BALL opened at $58.74 on Thursday. Ball Corporation has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $68.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.67. The company has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.07. Ball had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 15.41%. The firm had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

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.