Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 98,170 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,318,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Olin as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in Olin by 246.8% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 59.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,887 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the third quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the fourth quarter worth about $153,000. Institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Olin Stock Performance

Shares of OLN stock opened at $24.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.27. Olin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.98 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 1.61.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.10. Olin had a return on equity of 5.10% and a net margin of 1.66%. Analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.06 per share, with a total value of $203,435.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,435. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OLN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Olin from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Olin from $50.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Olin from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Olin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.38.

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.