Ball Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 10,824 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,181% compared to the average daily volume of 845 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BALL. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ball from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ball presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.17.

Ball Trading Down 1.4 %

BALL stock opened at $51.12 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.14. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $50.81 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BALL. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Ball by 8.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,453,000. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ball by 143.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,819 shares during the period. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.