Ashland Inc. $ASH Shares Sold by Newport Trust Company LLC

Newport Trust Company LLC cut its stake in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 492,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 26,311 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC owned 1.08% of Ashland worth $28,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in Ashland by 3,673.3% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ashland by 59.0% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter valued at $57,000. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ASH. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore set a $62.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.78.

Ashland Stock Up 0.6%

ASH stock opened at $56.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.78. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.29 and a 1-year high of $65.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $54.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.65, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -10.77%.

Ashland Company 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.