Olin (NYSE:OLN) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Citigroup downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $25.62, but opened at $25.03. Citigroup now has a $25.00 price target on the stock. Olin shares last traded at $25.29, with a volume of 314,394 shares.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Olin from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Olin from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Olin from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Olin from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Fermium Researc raised Olin to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.57.

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other Olin news, VP Teresa M. Vermillion sold 6,000 shares of Olin 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 17,199 shares in the company, valued at $363,070.89. The trade was a 25.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Olin

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OLN. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Olin by 2,268.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 25,701 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 767.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 3,737 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Olin by 108,185.7% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 7,580 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 7,573 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Olin by 36.8% in the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 80,901 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,961,000 after acquiring an additional 21,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Olin by 48.3% in the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 10,278 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Olin Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of -210.33 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.75.

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

Olin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio is presently -666.67%.

About Olin

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.