StockNews.com Upgrades Olin (NYSE:OLN) to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Olin (NYSE:OLN – Get Rating) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on OLN. Barclays increased their price target on Olin from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Olin from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Olin from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Olin from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $64.00.

Olin Stock Down 1.5 %

OLN stock opened at $51.22 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.34. The stock has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.79, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Olin has a twelve month low of $41.33 and a twelve month high of $67.25.

Olin (NYSE:OLN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Olin had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 50.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Olin will post 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 3rd. Olin’s payout ratio is 9.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other Olin news, VP Damian Gumpel sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.65, for a total transaction of $814,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,074,760.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Olin news, Director Heidi S. Alderman sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $128,020.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Damian Gumpel sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.65, for a total transaction of $814,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,074,760.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Olin by 3.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,867,281 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $829,542,000 after buying an additional 493,052 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Olin by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,346,926 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $340,017,000 after acquiring an additional 58,801 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Olin by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,581,714 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $291,812,000 after acquiring an additional 31,587 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Olin by 0.4% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,933,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $211,525,000 after purchasing an additional 19,638 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Olin by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,451,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $238,276,000 after purchasing an additional 888,221 shares during the last quarter. 85.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Olin Company Profile

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Olin Corp. engages in manufacturing of chemicals products. It operates through the following segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls, Epoxy, and Winchester. The Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls segment manufactures and sells chlorine and caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomer, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and vinylidene chloride, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, bleach products and potassium hydroxide.