Olin (NYSE:OLN) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Olin (NYSE:OLN) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $28.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $50.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Olin in a report on Thursday. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.38.

Olin Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE OLN opened at $25.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.85 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.82 and a 200 day moving average of $38.79. Olin has a 1 year low of $24.49 and a 1 year high of $60.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

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 net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 5.10%. Research analysts forecast that Olin will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Olin’s payout ratio is presently 88.89%.

Olin declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 45% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane purchased 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased 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 owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,435. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Olin by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 143,062 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,835,000 after purchasing an additional 51,051 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Olin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $916,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Olin by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,295,699 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,168,000 after purchasing an additional 37,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Olin by 82.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares during the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.