Short Interest in Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Grows By 15.7%

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 6,640,000 shares, an increase of 15.7% from the November 15th total of 5,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BALL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upgraded 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ball from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.75.

Ball Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BALL stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $57.82. 2,198,549 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,839,285. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $62.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.32. Ball has a 52-week low of $54.06 and a 52-week high of $71.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91.

Ball (NYSE:BALL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball's payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ball in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Quarry LP grew its position in Ball by 598.6% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Ball in the third quarter worth $66,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ball by 334.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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