Ball Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 13,500 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 456% compared to the typical volume of 2,428 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on BALL shares. Barclays raised their price target on Ball from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Ball from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ball from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ball from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.23.

Insider Transactions at Ball

In other Ball news, Director Pedro Henrique Mariani sold 5,000 shares of Ball stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $349,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $688,095.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ball in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Ball by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Ball during the first quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ball by 40.0% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Trading Down 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BALL traded down $3.81 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $62.63. The stock had a trading volume of 3,089,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,889,590. Ball has a 52 week low of $42.81 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.98 and its 200 day moving average is $63.08. The stock has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.12. Ball had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.02%.

Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.