Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Olin Corporation $OLN

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has increased its stake in Olin Corporation by 2.1%, acquiring an additional 245,604 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 11.75 million shares valued at $284.8 million.
• Olin Corporation reported a quarterly earnings miss with $0.05 EPS, falling short of the expected $0.09, although revenue for the quarter was up 7% year-over-year at $1.76 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.8%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of -666.67%.

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN - Free Report) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,748,584 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 245,604 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.20% of Olin worth $284,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Olin by 47.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,070 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 4,213 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its stake in shares of Olin by 4.6% in the first quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 12,630 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Olin by 43.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 198,723 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,817,000 after buying an additional 60,246 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Olin by 30.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 21,966 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 5,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its stake in shares of Olin by 12.9% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 35,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $851,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OLN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Olin from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Olin from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Olin from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Olin from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Olin from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Teresa M. Vermillion sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.11, for a total transaction of $126,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 17,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $363,070.89. This represents a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Olin Stock Up 10.0%

OLN traded up $2.0940 on Friday, hitting $23.1240. 2,350,922 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,905,510. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.11. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -192.70 and a beta of 1.55. Olin Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.66 and a twelve month high of $49.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

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

Olin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. Olin's dividend payout ratio is currently -666.67%.

Olin 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.