Teacher Retirement System of Texas Boosts Holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 85.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Ashland were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ashland by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,928,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $352,221,000 after acquiring an additional 66,530 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 2,860,471 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,409,000 after acquiring an additional 212,916 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,818,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $201,423,000 after acquiring an additional 44,018 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,806,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $200,583,000 after buying an additional 208,320 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 33.1% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,291,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $132,383,000 after buying an additional 569,740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ashland Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of ASH opened at $52.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Ashland Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.21 and a 1 year high of $98.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Ashland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st were given a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. 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.