Olin (NYSE:OLN) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Olin (NYSE:OLN) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $28.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $50.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on shares of Olin in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.38.

Olin Stock Performance

Olin stock opened at $25.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Olin has a 1-year low of $24.49 and a 1-year high of $60.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.85 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.82 and its 200 day moving average is $38.79.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.10. Olin had a net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 5.10%. Research analysts forecast that Olin will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Olin’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

Olin declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.06 per share, for a total transaction of $203,435.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,435. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olin

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Olin by 88.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Olin by 26.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,534 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in Olin by 2.5% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 13,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Olin by 3.0% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Olin by 45.8% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.