Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 59.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436,251 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 636,836 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Olin were worth $14,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in Olin by 246.8% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Olin during the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Olin by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $98,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Olin in the 4th quarter worth $153,000. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $34.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Olin from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Olin from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Olin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In related news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was 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 $203,435. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Olin Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE OLN opened at $19.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.21. Olin Co. has a 1-year low of $18.33 and a 1-year high of $59.31. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Olin’s payout ratio is currently 88.89%.

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

Olin Company 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.