Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 131.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,405 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.05% of Olin worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 911 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Olin in the fourth quarter worth $153,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Olin by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on OLN shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Olin in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised Olin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.44.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane bought 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.06 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The purchase 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.

Olin Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of OLN stock opened at $25.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.27. Olin Co. has a twelve month low of $22.98 and a twelve month high of $60.60.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.89%.

Olin declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.