Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Ball (NYSE:BALL)

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 13,336 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,214% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,015 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced 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, February 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Ball from $70.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.64.

Ball Price Performance

BALL opened at $50.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.00, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.47 and a 200 day moving average of $58.43. 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.

Ball (NYSE:BALL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. Ball had a net margin of 33.98% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Ball Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Ball’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.32%.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Ball by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ball by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in Ball during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 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.