Ball Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 28,228 put options on the company. This is an increase of 2,370% compared to the average volume of 1,143 put options.

Ball Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:BALL traded up $0.72 on Monday, hitting $48.81. 1,813,226 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,105,156. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Ball has a 52 week low of $43.51 and a 52 week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BALL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ball by 51.3% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 53,359 shares of the company's stock worth $2,778,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 764.9% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 813 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in Ball by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 226,953 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,817,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Ball during the 1st quarter valued at $83,000. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.