UBS Group AG Sells 69,955 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

UBS Group AG decreased its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 219,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 69,955 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.48% of Ashland worth $12,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 3,673.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Ashland by 59.0% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in Ashland in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ASH. Seaport Research Partners raised Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.78.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASH opened at $56.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 3.06. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $46.29 and a one year high of $65.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of -3.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.40.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $964.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -10.77%.

Ashland Profile

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.