Olin (NYSE:OLN) Stock Rating Lowered by Piper Sandler

Olin (NYSE:OLN) was downgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $33.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $41.00. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 19.05% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on OLN. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Olin from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Olin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.44.

Olin Price Performance

NYSE OLN opened at $27.72 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $32.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.89. Olin has a 52-week low of $26.48 and a 52-week high of $60.60. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.45.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Olin will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $28.06 per share, with a total value of $203,435.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,435. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Olin

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLN. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Olin by 5,746.2% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,613,796 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,546,000 after buying an additional 1,586,192 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Olin during the fourth quarter valued at $47,887,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in Olin by 24.8% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,452,708 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $165,661,000 after buying an additional 685,710 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Olin by 6.4% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $424,095,000 after buying an additional 531,330 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Olin by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,543,844 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $153,582,000 after buying an additional 467,680 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% 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.