KBC Group NV Increases Position in Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN)

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Olin Co. (NYSE:OLN) by 82.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,461 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,476 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Olin were worth $185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLN. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Olin by 88.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Olin by 357.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 915 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Olin during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Olin by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,534 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Olin by 4,862.5% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,588 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on OLN shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Olin from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on Olin from $43.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Olin from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Olin from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Olin from $51.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.94.

Olin Trading Down 3.8 %

NYSE OLN opened at $26.67 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.92 and a 200-day moving average of $40.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Olin Co. has a 12 month low of $26.48 and a 12 month high of $60.60. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.45.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Olin Co. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Olin

In other Olin news, VP R Nichole Sumner sold 10,500 shares of Olin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.75, for a total transaction of $459,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 24,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,052,450. The trade was a 30.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.