Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Short Interest Down 15.7% in October

Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) saw a large drop in short interest in 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 short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ball

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BALL. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Ball during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Quarry LP raised its position in Ball by 598.6% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Ball during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Ball Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BALL traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $60.67. The company had a trading volume of 710,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,801,957. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $18.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. Ball has a 12-month low of $51.65 and a 12-month high of $71.32.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ball Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Ball’s payout ratio is presently 6.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BALL. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $76.00) on shares of Ball in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ball from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Ball in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ball from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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.