Norges Bank Buys Shares of 1,416,779 Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,416,779 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,887,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.22% of Olin at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of OLN. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Olin by 34.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Olin by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 143,062 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,835,000 after acquiring an additional 51,051 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Olin by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Mariner Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Olin during the fourth quarter valued at $355,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Olin by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 125,913 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 34,485 shares in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane acquired 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.06 per share, with a total value of $203,435.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Olin Stock Performance

NYSE:OLN opened at $20.09 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Olin Co. has a twelve month low of $19.34 and a twelve month high of $59.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32 and a beta of 1.50.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.10. Olin had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 1.66%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Olin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OLN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Olin from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Olin from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Olin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.69.

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.