15,316 Shares in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Bought by FORA Capital LLC

FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,332,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Equitable Trust Co. grew its stake in Ashland by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 6,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Ashland by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in Ashland by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Ashland by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Ashland by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Robin E. Lampkin sold 868 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.90, for a total transaction of $67,617.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,585.70. This represents a 23.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ASH. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Ashland from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.29.

Ashland Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ASH stock opened at $78.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.91. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.04 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.02). Ashland had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $522.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is 48.36%.

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.