Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 288,761 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,820 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Olin were worth $9,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Olin by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,709,611 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $125,385,000 after purchasing an additional 256,903 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Olin by 5,746.2% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,613,796 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,192 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Olin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,887,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Olin by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,353,907 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,762,000 after acquiring an additional 58,208 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Olin by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,305,521 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,127,000 after purchasing an additional 97,980 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane purchased 7,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on OLN shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Olin from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler cut shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Olin from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 target price on shares of Olin in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.69.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of OLN opened at $24.71 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. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.75 and its 200-day moving average is $35.76. Olin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.98 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olin announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 45% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.89%.

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.