Ball Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 10,824 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,181% compared to the average volume of 845 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ball in the second quarter worth about $234,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Ball by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ball in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,453,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Ball by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 143.6% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,819 shares in the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.17.

Ball Trading Down 6.8 %

NYSE BALL opened at $51.87 on Wednesday. Ball has a twelve month low of $50.81 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $56.42 and its 200 day moving average is $61.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.03%.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.