Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ball by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ball during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Ball in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

Ball Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of BALL opened at $49.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Ball has a one year low of $49.00 and a one year high of $71.32. The company has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.94.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Ball’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ball will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Ball’s payout ratio is currently 6.32%.

Ball declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.