Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $82,000 Stock Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,364 shares of the company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ball were worth $82,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter worth $74,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a report 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

Ball Stock Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $66.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.02. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.02%.

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.