The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Boosts Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Free Report) by 458.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,018,648 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 836,293 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.33% of Ball worth $61,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,381,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 43.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 3,016 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 446.2% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 76,752 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,298,000 after purchasing an additional 62,700 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ball during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,055,000. Finally, Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in Ball in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $558,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $78.00 target price (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ball has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.83.

Ball Stock Up 0.7 %

Ball stock traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.47. The stock had a trading volume of 1,560,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,837,868. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.21. The company has a market capitalization of $20.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.08, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.88. 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.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 19.45% and a net margin of 32.79%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. Ball's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Ball's payout ratio is 6.02%.

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.