Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,360,000 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the March 31st total of 2,760,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on OLN shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Olin from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on Olin from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Olin from $69.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Olin from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Olin from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In related news, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total transaction of $3,770,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,469 shares in the company, valued at $1,022,511.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Olin news, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 15,000 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $787,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 75,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,954,667.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total transaction of $3,770,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,022,511.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 150,696 shares of company stock valued at $7,906,997 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olin

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Olin by 154.6% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 494 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Olin by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 659 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank raised its holdings in shares of Olin by 145.6% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Motco bought a new position in shares of Olin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Olin in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Olin Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE OLN opened at $53.54 on Tuesday. Olin has a twelve month low of $41.71 and a twelve month high of $60.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.70.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Olin had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 5.32%. Olin’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Olin will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

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.