Ashland Inc. $ASH Stock Position Lifted by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 25.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,153 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.08% of Ashland worth $2,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ASH. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 2,736.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 212.4% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 63.9% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ashland by 285.7% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Ashland by 1,745.8% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ashland from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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 cut their price target on shares of Ashland from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.60.

Ashland Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $53.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Ashland Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.21 and a 12 month high of $90.61. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.03.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $463.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $479.34 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 46.01% and a positive return on equity of 6.82%. Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -8.86%.

About Ashland

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.