National Bank of Canada FI Buys 335 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,612 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Ball were worth $155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Ball by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in shares of Ball by 17.0% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ball stock opened at $66.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.97, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BALL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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 research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.83.

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.