Olin (NYSE:OLN) Trading Down 7.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Olin Corporation's stock price fell by 7.7% after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock's price target from $22.00 to $21.00, maintaining an equal weight rating.
• The company's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.05, missing estimates, with revenue up 7.0% year-over-year despite a negative net margin.
• Olin's quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share represents a yield of 3.94%, but the payout ratio is significantly high at 156.86%.

Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN - Get Free Report) shares traded down 7.7% on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $21.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Olin traded as low as $20.27 and last traded at $20.21. 342,349 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,988,265 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.89.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Olin from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Olin from $28.00 to $24.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Olin from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Olin from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Olin from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Olin

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Olin by 11.5% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 12,191,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $295,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,795 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Olin by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,748,584 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $284,786,000 after purchasing an additional 245,604 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Olin by 40.5% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,384,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $154,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840,900 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Olin by 14.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,546,352 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $110,204,000 after buying an additional 569,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Olin by 3.1% in the first quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 4,020,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $97,451,000 after buying an additional 122,247 shares in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Olin Price Performance

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $20.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of -151.75 and a beta of 1.55.

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

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.