Concentric Capital Strategies LP Buys Shares of 282,919 Ashland Inc. $ASH

Concentric Capital Strategies LP purchased a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 282,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,599,000. Ashland makes up 0.8% of Concentric Capital Strategies LP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Concentric Capital Strategies LP owned about 0.62% of Ashland as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ashland by 284.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC bought a new position in Ashland in the third quarter valued at about $107,318,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ashland by 775.6% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,994 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 23.8% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 13,240.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,736,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,159 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $64.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of -4.18, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.38. 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 one year low of $46.29 and a one year high of $67.20.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASH has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.