Financial Advocates Investment Management Raises Stock Holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,086 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Olin were worth $274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in OLN. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Olin by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 464,409 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $23,211,000 after buying an additional 12,306 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Olin by 5.7% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 249,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,482,000 after buying an additional 13,508 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Olin by 2.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 29,482 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Olin in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Capula Management Ltd raised its stake in Olin by 12.4% in the third quarter. Capula Management Ltd now owns 5,080 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $787,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 75,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,954,667.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 78,896 shares of company stock worth $4,136,061 over the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on OLN. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Olin from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Olin from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Olin from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on Olin from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Olin from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Olin Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of OLN opened at $55.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $55.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.72. Olin Co. has a 12 month low of $41.71 and a 12 month high of $60.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Olin had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 5.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.16 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Olin Co. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

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.