Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 266,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 975 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Olin worth $6,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OLN. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Olin by 160.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,206 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Olin during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Olin by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Olin by 183.8% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,713 shares during the period. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Olin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Olin from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Olin from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Olin from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Olin from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Olin from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.33.

Olin Price Performance

Shares of OLN opened at $20.45 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.71 and its 200-day moving average is $24.34. Olin Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.66 and a fifty-two week high of $50.75. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.10 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Olin (NYSE:OLN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.14. Olin had a net margin of 0.94% and a return on equity of 3.13%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Olin Corporation will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Olin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Olin’s payout ratio is currently 156.86%.

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.