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

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) was the recipient of a large 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. Based on an average daily volume of 1,620,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BALL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Ball by 458.6% during 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 lifted its holdings in Ball by 15.4% during 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Ball by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,954,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,144,000 after purchasing an additional 309,587 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in Ball by 1,875.2% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 275,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,520,000 after purchasing an additional 261,303 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Ball by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,621,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,326,000 after purchasing an additional 241,502 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BALL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ball from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $69.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Baird R W raised Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ball currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.75.

Ball Stock Down 1.1 %

Ball stock opened at $62.15 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a PE ratio of 4.69, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.45 and its 200 day moving average is $63.93. Ball has a 12-month low of $54.06 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Ball had a return on equity of 17.46% and a net margin of 34.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 EPS 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.03%.

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.