Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 270,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Ashland were worth $19,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 119,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,513,000 after purchasing an additional 61,058 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 517,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,964,000 after acquiring an additional 7,709 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ashland by 66.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 169,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,752,000 after buying an additional 67,980 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Ashland by 703.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 184,806 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,206,000 after buying an additional 161,812 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Ashland by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 171,636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,265,000 after buying an additional 39,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ashland from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ashland from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ashland from $69.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ashland from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ashland presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.20.

Ashland Trading Up 11.4 %

Ashland stock opened at $51.82 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.51, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.70. Ashland Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.21 and a 52-week high of $102.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.51). Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.41% and a negative net margin of 1.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -245.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Guillermo Novo purchased 31,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $64.24 per share, for a total transaction of $2,010,326.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,010,326.56. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.02% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Company Profile

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.