Olin Corporation $OLN Shares Acquired by Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Olin Corporation by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, holding over 12 million shares valued at approximately $295 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vestcor Inc and Fifth Third Bancorp, also raised their stakes in Olin, reflecting an overall heightened interest among hedge funds.
• Analysts have lowered their price targets for Olin Corporation, with Citigroup adjusting its target from $26 to $25, while maintaining a "buy" rating amidst mixed analyst reviews for the stock.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,191,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 1,259,795 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned approximately 10.59% of Olin worth $295,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Olin by 160.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,206 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 188.5% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,676 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 183.8% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,713 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Olin during the 1st quarter worth $88,000. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Olin Stock Up 0.4%

OLN stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $23.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,699,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,091,422. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -194.22 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.01. Olin Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.66 and a fifty-two week high of $49.60.

Olin (NYSE:OLN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Olin had a negative net margin of 0.21% and a negative return on equity of 0.13%. Olin's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. Analysts forecast that Olin Corporation will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Olin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -666.67%.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other Olin news, VP Teresa M. Vermillion sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.11, for a total value of $126,660.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 17,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at $363,070.89. This trade represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on OLN. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Olin from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Olin from $33.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Olin from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Olin from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Olin from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $25.57.

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.