Invesco Ltd. cut its stake in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 365,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 13,476 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.80% of Ashland worth $21,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eminence Capital LP lifted its stake in Ashland by 8.0% in the fourth 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 44,018 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 33.1% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,291,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $132,383,000 after purchasing an additional 569,740 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,683,627 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $99,822,000 after purchasing an additional 115,811 shares during the period. Finally, Shapiro Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ashland by 172.5% in the 4th quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 670,785 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $47,934,000 after acquiring an additional 424,595 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
ASH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ashland from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ashland from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Ashland from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.60.
View Our Latest Analysis on ASH
Ashland Price Performance
Ashland stock opened at $54.0740 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.03. Ashland Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.21 and a 12 month high of $90.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of -2.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 1.33.
Ashland (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $463.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $479.34 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 46.01% and a positive return on equity of 6.82%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.49 EPS. Ashland has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.
Ashland Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be issued a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Ashland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -8.86%.
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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