Highland Capital Management LLC Purchases 725 Shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,927 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Olin were worth $4,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Olin in the fourth quarter worth about $67,494,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 120.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,390,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $72,704,000 after buying an additional 760,691 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 105.4% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,015,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,101,000 after buying an additional 521,300 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 123.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 923,879 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,275,000 after buying an additional 511,098 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,867,281 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $829,542,000 after buying an additional 493,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on OLN shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Olin from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Olin in a report on Thursday, December 7th. They set a “hold” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Olin from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Olin from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Olin from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.27.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other news, VP Brett A. Flaugher sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.46, for a total value of $786,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,703.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Brett A. Flaugher sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.46, for a total value of $786,900.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,703.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 48,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.39, for a total value of $2,561,661.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,327 shares in the company, valued at $4,732,231.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 753,274 shares of company stock valued at $40,434,124 in the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Olin Stock Up 1.9 %

OLN stock opened at $58.24 on Thursday. Olin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.71 and a fifty-two week high of $59.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.43.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.10. Olin had a return on equity of 18.44% and a net margin of 6.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Olin Co. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.60%.

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.