South Dakota Investment Council Purchases 44,492 Shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 279.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,492 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Olin were worth $3,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of OLN. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Olin by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,940,658 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $146,974,000 after acquiring an additional 397,050 shares in the last quarter. Luminus Management LLC raised its holdings in Olin by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Luminus Management LLC now owns 524,753 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,227,000 after acquiring an additional 285,789 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Olin by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,179,543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,954,000 after acquiring an additional 206,398 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Olin by 139.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 259,923 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,947,000 after acquiring an additional 151,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rovida Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Olin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,998,000. 88.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Olin Stock Down 0.9 %

OLN opened at $53.08 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.58. Olin Co. has a 52 week low of $41.71 and a 52 week high of $60.60. The company has a market capitalization of $6.35 billion, a PE ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Analysts forecast that Olin Co. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Olin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Olin

In related news, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total value of $3,770,936.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,022,511.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Valerie A. Peters sold 71,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total value of $3,770,936.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,022,511.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Slater sold 63,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.15, for a total transaction of $3,424,987.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sold 753,274 shares of company stock valued at $40,434,124 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OLN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Olin from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Olin from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Olin from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Olin from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Olin from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Olin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.33.

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.