Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 461,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 55,852 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.98% of Ashland worth $27,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Ashland by 276.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ashland in the first quarter valued at $273,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 33.5% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ashland by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 148,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,607,000 after purchasing an additional 22,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Ashland by 13.3% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,012 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASH. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Ashland from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ashland from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.40.

Ashland Trading Down 0.2%

ASH opened at $50.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.09. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.21 and a fifty-two week high of $98.44.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.11). Ashland had a negative net margin of 5.74% and a positive return on equity of 7.14%. The firm had revenue of $479.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.415 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -69.17%.

Ashland Profile

Ashland Inc provides additives and specialty ingredients in the North and Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Life Sciences, Personal Care, Specialty Additives, and Intermediates segments. The Life Sciences segment offers pharmaceutical solutions, including controlled release polymers, disintegrants, tablet coatings, thickeners, solubilizers, and tablet binders; nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; and nutraceutical solutions comprising products for weight management, joint comfort, stomach and intestinal health, sports nutrition, and general wellness, as well as custom formulation, toll processing, and particle engineering solutions.