Empirical Finance LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,969 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ball during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in Ball by 598.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ball by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ball by 334.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $60.92 on Friday. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $51.62 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.61. The firm has a market cap of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

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.