Jones Financial Companies Lllp Increases Stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Olin were worth $82,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of OLN. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Olin by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. increased its position in shares of Olin by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 6,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Olin by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Olin by 14.4% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,998 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 630 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 $24.66 on Monday. Olin Co. has a 52 week low of $22.98 and a 52 week high of $60.60. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40 and a beta of 1.61. 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 Announces Dividend

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 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on OLN. Citigroup cut their price objective on Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Olin in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.38.

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.