Highland Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Highland Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,669 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,070 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Olin worth $3,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mariner Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the fourth quarter worth about $355,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Olin by 34.3% during 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 last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Olin by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Olin by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 59,134 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 8,521 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OLN. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Olin from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Olin from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Olin in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Olin from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Olin from $41.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In other Olin news, VP R Nichole Sumner sold 10,500 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.75, for a total value of $459,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 24,056 shares in the company, valued at $1,052,450. The trade was a 30.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Olin Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE OLN opened at $32.08 on Friday. Olin Co. has a twelve month low of $30.69 and a twelve month high of $60.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.36.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last issued 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 2.33% and a return on equity of 6.19%. Equities analysts anticipate that Olin Co. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Olin announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.