Estate Counselors LLC Takes $1.83 Million Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Estate Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Ball by 2.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Ball by 17.0% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ball by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BALL. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Performance

NYSE BALL opened at $61.86 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 1 year low of $53.57 and a 1 year high of $71.32. The firm has a market cap of $18.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Ball’s payout ratio is 6.03%.

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.