Ball Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 13,336 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,214% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,015 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Ball by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,758,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $427,732,000 after buying an additional 803,728 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ball by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,418,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,065,000 after acquiring an additional 588,282 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ball by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,159,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,310,000 after acquiring an additional 840,357 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ball during the fourth quarter worth $190,105,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Ball by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,055,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,447,000 after purchasing an additional 367,798 shares during the last quarter. 86.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ball Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BALL opened at $50.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Ball has a fifty-two week low of $48.95 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.40.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last posted 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. Ball had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 33.98%. The company had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ball will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ball declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio is 6.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BALL shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Ball from $72.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.30.

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.