Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 59.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436,251 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 636,836 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.37% of Olin worth $14,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Olin by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. lifted its holdings in Olin by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 6,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Olin by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Olin by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,998 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Olin by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,887 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Olin from $33.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on Olin from $34.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Olin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane acquired 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.06 per share, for a total transaction of $203,435.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,435. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OLN opened at $19.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.21. Olin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.33 and a fifty-two week high of $59.31.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.10. Olin had a net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 5.10%. On average, analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Olin’s payout ratio is 88.89%.

Olin declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 45% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Olin Profile

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.