Cerity Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 48,430 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,613,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of OLN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Olin in the 4th quarter valued at about $67,494,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Olin by 120.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Olin by 105.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Olin by 123.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Olin by 3.2% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 88.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Olin Stock Performance

Olin stock opened at $53.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.39. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Olin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.71 and a fifty-two week high of $60.60.

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

Olin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. Olin’s payout ratio is presently 22.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Olin from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Olin from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Olin from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Olin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.00.

Insider Activity at Olin

In related news, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 539,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.96, for a total transaction of $29,102,138.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 47,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,569,575.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Olin news, CFO Todd A. Slater sold 63,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.15, for a total value of $3,424,987.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 137,517 shares in the company, valued at $7,446,545.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mcdougald Sutton sold 539,328 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.96, for a total transaction of $29,102,138.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 47,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,569,575.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 753,274 shares of company stock valued at $40,434,124. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.