Pzena Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,709,611 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 256,903 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned 3.18% of Olin worth $125,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLN. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Olin by 6.4% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 8,838,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $424,095,000 after purchasing an additional 531,330 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Olin by 70.9% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 544,814 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,140,000 after acquiring an additional 225,930 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Olin during the fourth quarter worth about $6,779,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Olin by 19.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,073,087 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,015,000 after acquiring an additional 172,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Olin by 504.9% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 167,186 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,022,000 after acquiring an additional 139,549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on OLN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on Olin in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Olin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane acquired 7,250 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Olin Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:OLN opened at $24.13 on Tuesday. Olin Co. has a 12-month low of $22.98 and a 12-month high of $60.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.87. 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 (NYSE:OLN) last announced its quarterly 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, analysts forecast that Olin Co. will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Olin’s payout ratio is presently 88.89%.

Olin announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 45% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.