Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Cuts Stock Position in Ball Corporation $BALL

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lessened its holdings in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 67.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 192,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 407,854 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Ball were worth $10,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BALL. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Ball by 145.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 517 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ball during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ball by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $49.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $13.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.09. Ball Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.51 and a 1 year high of $65.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.65.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 16.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Ball Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 41.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ball

In other news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of Ball stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total transaction of $175,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 10,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,355.80. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on BALL. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $66.00 price objective (down previously from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ball in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.36.

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.