Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Sells 407,854 Shares of Ball Corporation $BALL

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its stake in Ball Corporation (NYSE:BALL) by 67.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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. owned about 0.07% of Ball worth $10,814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Ball by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ball by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Ball by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,676 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in Ball in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in Ball by 67.6% in the 1st quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 8,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ball

In other Ball news, Chairman Daniel William Fisher sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.55, for a total value of $175,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 10,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,355.80. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ball Trading Down 0.0%

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 firm has a market capitalization of $13.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.09. Ball Corporation has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $65.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.65.

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

Ball Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BALL shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ball in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down from $67.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $61.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.