D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Free Report) by 31.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 202,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 48,010 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Ashland worth $14,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Eminence Capital LP grew its position in shares of Ashland by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 2,860,471 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $204,409,000 after purchasing an additional 212,916 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Ashland by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Ashland in the fourth quarter worth about $2,905,000. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ASH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho set a $60.00 price objective on Ashland in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Ashland from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Ashland from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ashland from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.60.
Read Our Latest Research Report on ASH
Ashland Price Performance
Shares of ASH stock traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $52.24. 42,338 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 535,936. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.52. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.96, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.58. The company's 50 day moving average price is $52.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.63. Ashland Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.21 and a 12 month high of $102.50.
Ashland (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $479.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.79 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.41% and a negative net margin of 1.12%. The company's revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.
Ashland Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a boost from Ashland's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ashland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.17%.
About Ashland
(
Free Report)
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.
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