Olin (NYSE:OLN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) was downgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $28.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $50.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.69% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on OLN. Piper Sandler downgraded Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upgraded 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. Citigroup dropped their target price on Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Olin in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Olin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.38.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of OLN opened at $25.30 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.11 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.27. Olin has a fifty-two week low of $24.49 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts predict that Olin will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin declared that its board has authorized a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane purchased 7,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.06 per share, with a total value of $203,435.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 7,250 shares in the company, valued at $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Olin

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Olin by 34.3% during the 4th 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. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Olin by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 143,062 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,835,000 after purchasing an additional 51,051 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in Olin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $916,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Olin by 2.9% in the 3rd 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, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Olin by 82.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

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.