Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) Stock Holdings Increased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 34.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,395 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 16,728 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Olin worth $2,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Olin by 6.4% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 531,330 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $165,661,000 after purchasing an additional 685,710 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Olin by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,305,521 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,127,000 after purchasing an additional 97,980 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Olin by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,295,699 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,168,000 after purchasing an additional 37,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Olin by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,073,087 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $51,015,000 after purchasing an additional 172,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of the company’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 directly owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,435. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of OLN opened at $25.07 on Friday. 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 $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.85 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.79. Olin Co. has a twelve month low of $24.49 and a twelve month high of $60.60.

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 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olin declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on OLN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.38.

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.