MetLife Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,737 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 5,012 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Olin were worth $2,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Olin by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Olin by 246.8% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Olin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Olin by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Olin by 34.3% in 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 in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Olin Stock Performance

Shares of Olin stock opened at $21.84 on Tuesday. Olin Co. has a 52 week low of $17.66 and a 52 week high of $57.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.27 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

Olin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on OLN shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho set a $23.00 price target on Olin in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Olin from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.25.

Insider Activity at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane acquired 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Olin Company 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.