Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,170,000 shares, a drop of 15.7% from the October 15th total of 6,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ball

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Ball by 60.0% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 151,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,265,000 after purchasing an additional 56,692 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Ball by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 63,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,315,000 after buying an additional 19,481 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Ball by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 93,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,339,000 after acquiring an additional 6,963 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ball during the third quarter worth approximately $2,313,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ball by 24.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 3,974 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Ball stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $60.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,524,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,810,287. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.58. Ball has a 52 week low of $51.65 and a 52 week high of $71.32. The company has a market capitalization of $18.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NYSE:BALL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised Ball from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ball from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ball currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.75.

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.