Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Short Interest Update

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,570,000 shares, a drop of 8.0% from the January 15th total of 7,140,000 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Ball by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company's stock.

Ball Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE BALL traded up $0.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.35. The stock had a trading volume of 3,493,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,966. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball has a one year low of $48.95 and a one year high of $71.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Ball announced 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 buy up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Barclays cut their price objective on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.25.

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.