Ashland Inc. $ASH Position Boosted by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 126.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,238 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.49% of Ashland worth $13,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hilltop National Bank boosted its holdings in Ashland by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 4,940 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 4.6% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 4,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 6.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ashland by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $605,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ashland from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore set a $62.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.11.

Ashland Trading Down 1.8%

Ashland stock opened at $53.23 on Friday. Ashland Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.21 and a 12 month high of $65.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.50.

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

Ashland Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.415 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -10.99%.

About Ashland

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.