Numerai GP LLC Sells 35,744 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

Numerai GP LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 35,744 shares during the quarter. Numerai GP LLC’s holdings in Ashland were worth $2,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 182,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,732,000 after buying an additional 61,673 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth approximately $3,067,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth approximately $10,397,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,395,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 171.0% during the third quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 30,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,447,000 after acquiring an additional 19,063 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE:ASH opened at $50.67 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 3.15. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.21 and a fifty-two week high of $65.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of -3.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.72.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.03. Ashland had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a positive return on equity of 7.58%. The company had revenue of $386.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $401.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were given a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Ashland’s payout ratio is presently -10.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ASH shares. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Evercore set a $62.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ashland from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ashland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.67.

About Ashland

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.