EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,926 Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in Ashland by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 5,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,042 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ASH shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ashland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Seaport Res Ptn cut Ashland from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho set a $60.00 price target on Ashland in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.60.

Ashland Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:ASH opened at $51.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.52. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $45.21 and a one year high of $102.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.39. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.58.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $479.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.79 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 1.12% and a positive return on equity of 7.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.415 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is -69.17%.

Ashland 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.