24,366 Shares in Ashland Inc. $ASH Purchased by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 24,366 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ashland by 284.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,371,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,972,000 after purchasing an additional 143,230 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 807.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,123,804 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,006 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 575,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,918,000 after purchasing an additional 140,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 525,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,165,000 after purchasing an additional 52,123 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Ashland

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Ashland management presented at the Gabelli Funds Annual Specialty Chemicals Symposium; the transcript is now public — useful for investors wanting management commentary but it did not contain major new announcements. Ashland Inc. (ASH) Presents at Gabelli Funds Annual Specialty Chemicals Symposium Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Local/community items referencing “Ashland” (sports, weather, arts) are unrelated to Ashland Inc.’s business and are unlikely to move the stock: local athlete feature. Athlete of the week: Ashland-Greenwood boys basketball’s Cal Kissinger
• Neutral Sentiment: Local council story about a cannabis club business license drew no action — a municipal matter without direct corporate impact. Ashland board takes no action on cannabis club business license
• Neutral Sentiment: College athletics/imports: signing announcements and local sports coverage are unrelated to Ashland Inc.’s fundamentals. Keystone football: All-Ohio linebacker Shane Ohl signs with Ashland
• Neutral Sentiment: Local weather and arts event coverage (weather forecasts, university theatre, symphony) do not affect corporate cash flow or guidance. Ashland County weather forecast Friday calls for breezy; a stray p.m. t-storm
• Neutral Sentiment: Crime report from Ashland, KY (drug seizure) is a local public-safety story with no direct link to Ashland Inc.’s operations. Man arrested in Ashland, Ky., after traffic stop turns into ‘major drug seizure’

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Argus lifted their price target on Ashland from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research raised Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore set a $62.00 target price on Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.67.

Ashland Stock Down 2.9%

ASH opened at $48.74 on Friday. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $45.21 and a one year high of $65.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 3.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.56.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 positive return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The business’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were issued a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. 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.