Norges Bank Invests $47.89 Million in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,416,779 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $47,887,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.22% of Olin as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Olin by 246.8% in the fourth 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 purchased a new position in shares of Olin in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Olin by 59.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Olin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $153,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OLN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Olin from $25.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Olin from $44.00 to $34.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Olin from $34.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Olin from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $50.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.44.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Olin news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane purchased 7,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 7,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,435. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Olin Trading Up 22.9 %

OLN traded up $4.12 on Wednesday, hitting $22.08. The company had a trading volume of 4,405,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,508,477. 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 market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53 and a beta of 1.50. The company's fifty day moving average price is $25.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.66. Olin Co. has a 1 year low of $17.54 and a 1 year high of $57.77.

Olin (NYSE:OLN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 3.62%. Olin's dividend payout ratio is presently 88.89%.

Olin announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 45% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are 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.