Norges Bank Takes $192.46 Million Position in Ball Corporation $BALL

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 3,431,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,463,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ball by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Ball by 48.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 72,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,074,000 after buying an additional 23,657 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Ball by 20.7% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 601,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,313,000 after acquiring an additional 103,022 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Ball by 22.1% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 84,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,399,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in Ball by 9.3% in the first quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 59,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ball Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:BALL opened at $49.04 on Tuesday. Ball Corporation has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $62.96. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.55 and a 200-day moving average of $52.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $13.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.13.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.02. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.81% and a net margin of 4.49%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ball from $61.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ball from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.92.

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.