Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 55,328 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,646,000. Ieq Capital LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Ashland at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ASH. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Ashland by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 46,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 7,309 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Ashland by 6.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Ashland by 49.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 284,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,865,000 after purchasing an additional 94,067 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 1.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 387,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,953,000 after buying an additional 6,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 152,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,061,000 after buying an additional 13,989 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ashland from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ashland from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ashland in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.90.

Ashland Stock Up 1.4%

ASH opened at $73.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.65, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.38. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $78.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 3.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Ashland’s payout ratio is 147.37%.

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.