Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) Experiences Notable Increase in Short Interest

In February, Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL) encountered a significant rise in short interest. Particularly, on February 29th, the amount of shorted shares touched 10,240,000, marking an 11.9% surge since February 14th's figure of 9,150,000 shares. About 3.3% of Ball's shares are now short sold. The short interest ratio, which is the time it would take to cover all short positions based on the current average daily volume of 1,930,000 shares, stands at 5.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts' Opinions

Ball Co. has been under the microscope of various research analysts. Notably, Bank of America upgraded the firm's rating from 'underperform' to 'buy,' lifting their price target from $61.00 to $72.00. Barclays also increased their price target from $63.00 to $66.00, maintaining an 'overweight' rating. Mizuho, setting a price target of $63.00, rated the company as 'neutral.' UBS Group introduced coverage on Ball with a 'sell' rating and a price target of $55.00. Conversely, TheStreet upgraded Ball from a 'c+' to a 'b-' rating. Collectively, Ball holds an average 'Hold' rating with a consensus target price of $63.33, according to MarketBeat data.

Ball's Stock Performance

On Tuesday, shares of Ball opened at $64.78. The company's stock has fluctuated between a 52-week low of $42.81 and a high of $66.40. It currently has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, with a PE ratio of 28.92 and a beta of 0.89. The stock's 50-day and 200-day moving averages are $60.28 and $54.87, respectively. Ball reported $0.78 EPS for the last quarter, slightly above analysts' expectations. The revenue was $3.40 billion, while forecasts were set at $3.56 billion. Year-over-year, revenue declined by 4.1%. Analysts predict an EPS of 3.16 for the current fiscal year.

Dividends and Insider Activity

Ball has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, with a corresponding annual yield of 1.23% and a payout ratio of 35.71%. Additionally, insider Daniel William Fisher invested in 3,869 shares at an average price of $64.56, totaling a transaction value of $249,782.64. After this purchase, Fisher holds 111,866 company shares valued at roughly $7,222,068.96.

Hedge Funds' Stance on Ball

Several hedge funds and institutional investors have recently adjusted their Ball holdings. Noteworthy moves include Quilter Plc's new position valued at about $401,172,000 and Covestor Ltd's 82.9% increase in shares, bringing their total to 534 shares. Institutional investors own 84.79% of Ball's stock.

About Ball Co.

Ball Corporation specializes in aluminum packaging for beverages, personal care, and household products industries, operating across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and globally. The company is also involved in the Aerospace sector.

growth, short, interest