Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Short Interest Update

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,740,000 shares, an increase of 11.0% from the October 31st total of 5,170,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Ball

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BALL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Ball by 458.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,018,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,139,000 after purchasing an additional 836,293 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Ball by 15.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after acquiring an additional 309,587 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of Ball by 1,875.2% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Ball by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,326,000 after purchasing an additional 241,502 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Trading Up 1.1 %

BALL stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Monday, hitting $62.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,023,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,804,083. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a one year low of $54.06 and a one year high of $71.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.64 and a 200-day moving average of $64.04. The stock has a market cap of $18.75 billion, a PE ratio of 4.74, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.90.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Ball’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BALL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.75.

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.