First Merchants Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL)

First Merchants Corp grew its position in shares of Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) by 13.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,330 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,481 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $2,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 25,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 26,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BALL traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.56. 743,587 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,886,837. The firm has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. Ball Co. has a 12-month low of $42.81 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.71.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ball Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BALL shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ball from $59.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. 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 research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.08.

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.