Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Purchased by Man Group plc

Man Group plc boosted its position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 117,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,533 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Ashland were worth $8,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,928,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $352,221,000 after purchasing an additional 66,530 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 2,860,471 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,409,000 after purchasing an additional 212,916 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,818,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $201,423,000 after purchasing an additional 44,018 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,806,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $200,583,000 after purchasing an additional 208,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,022,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,074,000 after purchasing an additional 142,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Ashland stock opened at $52.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -79.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.58. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.21 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.40.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $479.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.79 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 1.12% and a positive return on equity of 7.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.415 dividend. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -69.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ashland from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Ashland from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $60.00 target price on Ashland in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

About Ashland

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.