Traders Buy High Volume of Ball Put Options (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ball from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ball by 1.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew 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 valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 26,729 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Ball Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.35 on Monday, hitting $50.34. The company had a trading volume of 616,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,946,655. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.47 and a 200-day moving average of $58.35. 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 twelve month low of $48.95 and a twelve month high of $71.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

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

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.