AMG National Trust Bank Reduces Position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

AMG National Trust Bank trimmed its position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,226,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,958 shares during the quarter. Ball accounts for approximately 2.0% of AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. AMG National Trust Bank owned about 0.40% of Ball worth $73,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Ball by 73.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 115,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,645,000 after acquiring an additional 48,983 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the fourth quarter valued at $362,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $114,000. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council increased its stake in Ball by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 12,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BALL shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial reissued 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 lifted their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.08.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $64.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 743,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,886,837. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.86, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $42.81 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.71.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 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 firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ball Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.02%.

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.