Concentric Capital Strategies LP Buys New Position in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Concentric Capital Strategies LP bought a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 282,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,599,000. Ashland accounts for 0.8% of Concentric Capital Strategies LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 182,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,732,000 after acquiring an additional 61,673 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ashland during the third quarter worth $10,397,000. Standard Investments LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the third quarter worth $107,318,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Ashland by 92.9% in the third quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 147,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,066,000 after purchasing an additional 71,044 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ashland by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,668,000 after purchasing an additional 345,919 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ashland Stock Down 0.2%

Ashland stock opened at $64.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.38. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.29 and a 1-year high of $67.20. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its 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). Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.The business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is presently -10.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASH has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seaport Research Partners raised Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research lowered Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on 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 assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.67.

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.