Quadrature Capital Ltd Trims Stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Quadrature Capital Ltd reduced its position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 33.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,773 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 8,823 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Olin were worth $1,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sandy Spring Bank increased its position in shares of Olin by 145.6% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Olin by 30.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 858 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Olin by 1,100.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 960 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. 88.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OLN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Olin from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Olin from $69.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.27.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of OLN stock traded down $3.45 on Friday, reaching $44.59. 4,566,635 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,183,720. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $49.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.38. Olin Co. has a 1 year low of $41.71 and a 1 year high of $60.60.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Olin had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 4.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Olin Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Olin’s payout ratio 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.