Teacher Retirement System of Texas Increases Stock Position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 131.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 33,405 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Olin were worth $1,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Olin by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 6,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Olin by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 6,930 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Olin by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,998 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Olin by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,887 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. 88.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Olin

In other news, CEO Kenneth Todd Lane acquired 7,250 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.06 per share, for a total transaction of $203,435.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 7,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,435. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Olin Stock Performance

Olin stock opened at $25.23 on Friday. Olin Co. has a 52 week low of $22.98 and a 52 week high of $60.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.51 and a 200-day moving average of $36.27.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.10. Olin had a net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 5.10%. On average, analysts expect that Olin Co. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olin declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, December 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 45% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Olin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Olin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on OLN. Bank of America raised shares of Olin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Olin from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Olin in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Olin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Olin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.44.

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.