First Merchants Corp Has $2 Million Stock Holdings in Ball Corporation $BALL

First Merchants Corp decreased its position in shares of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,618 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,140 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Ball were worth $1,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirova US LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 2,669,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,709,000 after buying an additional 124,814 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in Ball by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 107,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,030,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ball by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 853 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ball by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 40,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Ball by 548.7% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,816,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of Ball stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total transaction of $175,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 10,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,355.80. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Ball Price Performance

BALL stock opened at $48.72 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.85. The stock has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $67.84.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.81% and a net margin of 4.49%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ball has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.550-3.650 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on BALL shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ball from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Ball from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.27.

Ball Company 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.