Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $25.69 Million Stock Position in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 429,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 192,991 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned about 0.94% of Ashland worth $25,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in Ashland by 3,673.3% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Ashland by 59.0% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on ASH shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ashland from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.11.

Ashland Stock Up 0.0%

ASH stock opened at $54.40 on Friday. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.21 and a 1-year high of $65.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of -3.60, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Ashland Dividend Announcement

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