Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.33.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on OLN shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Olin from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Olin from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Olin from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Olin from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Olin from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th.

Olin Price Performance

OLN opened at $53.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.44. Olin has a 1 year low of $41.71 and a 1 year high of $60.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Olin had a return on equity of 18.44% and a net margin of 6.74%. As a group, analysts predict that Olin will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Olin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.60%.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other news, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 48,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $2,561,661.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 90,327 shares in the company, valued at $4,732,231.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Brett A. Flaugher sold 15,000 shares of Olin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.46, for a total value of $786,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,703.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 48,896 shares of Olin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $2,561,661.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,732,231.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 753,274 shares of company stock worth $40,434,124 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Olin

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of OLN. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 122.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,029,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $271,152,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,274 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Olin in the fourth quarter worth about $76,125,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Olin by 218.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,649,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $88,978,000 after buying an additional 1,131,674 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Olin by 15.6% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,940,658 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $146,974,000 after buying an additional 397,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Luminus Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Olin by 119.6% in the third quarter. Luminus Management LLC now owns 524,753 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,227,000 after buying an additional 285,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

About Olin

Olin Corporation manufactures and distributes chemical products in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls; Epoxy; and Winchester. The Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls segment offers chlorine and caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomers, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, bleach products, potassium hydroxide, and chlorinated organics intermediates and solvents.