Estate Counselors LLC Invests $1.83 Million in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 26,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,825,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.9% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Ball by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Ball by 17.0% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ball by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL opened at $61.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.34. Ball Co. has a 52-week low of $53.57 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a PE ratio of 4.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.03%.

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.