Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 34,400 Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 34,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,856,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of OLN. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Olin by 10.4% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Olin during the first quarter valued at about $230,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Olin during the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its position in shares of Olin by 8.7% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 82,375 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,437,000 after buying an additional 6,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Olin by 5.8% during the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,714 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Olin Stock Performance

NYSE OLN opened at $53.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.43 and a 200-day moving average of $51.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Olin Co. has a 1-year low of $41.71 and a 1-year high of $60.60.

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

Olin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total transaction of $3,770,936.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,022,511.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Olin news, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of Olin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total transaction of $3,770,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,022,511.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Slater sold 63,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.15, for a total transaction of $3,424,987.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 137,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,446,545.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 753,274 shares of company stock valued at $40,434,124 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Olin from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Olin from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Olin from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Olin from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Olin from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Olin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.00.

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.