Federated Hermes Inc. Increases Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,941 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter worth about $72,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its stake in Ball by 17.0% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Ball by 58.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

Ball stock opened at $66.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.14. Ball Co. has a 12 month low of $42.81 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.58 billion, a PE ratio of 4.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BALL. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Baird R W upgraded Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.83.

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.