Hantz Financial Services Inc. Sells 13,796 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

Hantz Financial Services Inc. cut its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 13,796 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Ashland were worth $8,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Ashland by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 46,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 7,309 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Ashland by 49.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 284,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,865,000 after purchasing an additional 94,067 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ashland by 1.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 387,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,953,000 after purchasing an additional 6,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Ashland by 10.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 152,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,061,000 after buying an additional 13,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Ashland

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results: Ashland reported an EPS beat (Q1 EPS $0.26 vs. $0.23 est.), with a narrowed loss year-over-year — the earnings beat is helping sentiment. Zacks: ASH Q1 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: BMO (covered via TipRanks) reaffirmed a Buy rating, citing stabilizing fundamentals, portfolio streamlining and potential activist upside — this underpins investor confidence. TipRanks: BMO Maintains Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call details: The Q1 2026 earnings call transcript is available for deeper color on guidance, demand trends and divestiture impacts — useful for active investors doing due diligence. Seeking Alpha: Q1 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Local unrelated headlines (unlikely to move ASH stock): community stories about a Walk for Peace visit, a family-owned coffee shop opening, a dinosaur exhibit, and local weather in towns named Ashland. These are regional items not tied to Ashland Inc.’s operations. WTVR: Walk for Peace Columbia Missourian: Coffee Shop 1011now: Dinosaur Exhibit Yahoo: Weather
• Negative Sentiment: Price target cut: JPMorgan lowered its price target on ASH from $77 to $70 (still “overweight”), which can temper upside expectations despite retains a positive rating. Benzinga: JPMorgan Lowers PT
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue weakness and divestiture impact: Quarterly sales missed estimates and fell roughly 4–5% year-over-year, partly due to the Avoca divestiture and softer end-market demand — a near-term headwind for top-line growth. Zacks: Sales Miss / Avoca Divestiture

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ashland from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday. Argus raised their target price on Ashland from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ashland from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.33.

Ashland Trading Up 5.7%

NYSE:ASH opened at $64.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $45.21 and a one year high of $67.39. The company has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -4.27, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.28 and a 200-day moving average of $54.41.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $386.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $401.42 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 1st will be given a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is presently -9.05%.

Ashland Company Profile

Ashland Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of performance and process-critical additives, ingredients and technologies. Its portfolio spans performance additives for coatings, adhesives and sealants; specialty ingredients for personal care and pharmaceutical applications; and process aids used in water treatment and other industrial processes. Ashland aims to address customer challenges by delivering tailored solutions that improve product performance, processing efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Founded in 1924 as the Ashland Oil & Refining Company, the firm gradually expanded into the specialty chemicals sector over the second half of the 20th century.