Ball Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 13,336 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,214% compared to the average daily volume of 1,015 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.30.

Ball Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of BALL opened at $50.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ball has a twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The stock has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Ball’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 4.5% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ball by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

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.