QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 87,437 Shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 275.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 119,187 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 87,437 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ball were worth $8,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners grew its position in Ball by 114.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,057,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,162,167 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Ball by 458.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,139,000 after acquiring an additional 836,293 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Ball in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,193,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,855,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,415,214,000 after acquiring an additional 267,479 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,520,000 after acquiring an additional 261,303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 0.8 %

BALL opened at $59.46 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Ball Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.05 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.48, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ball Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BALL. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed 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. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

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.