Kera Capital Partners Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Ashland by 18.7% in the first 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 last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Ashland by 6.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Ashland by 49.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 284,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,865,000 after purchasing an additional 94,067 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ashland by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 387,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $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 boosted its stake in Ashland by 10.1% during the 1st 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 worth $9,061,000 after purchasing an additional 13,989 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASH shares. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.67.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $67.89 on Friday. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $67.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of -4.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $57.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.55.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ashland’s payout ratio is presently -10.89%.

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.