Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 967,626 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 1,804.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,021,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 967,626 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 2.23% of Ashland worth $59,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 3,673.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 59.0% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Ashland during the third quarter worth $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ashland during the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Ashland during the third quarter worth $57,000. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ASH. Evercore set a $62.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ashland has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.78.

Ashland Price Performance

Ashland stock opened at $54.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.53, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $54.40 and its 200 day moving average is $56.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Ashland Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.29 and a 52-week high of $65.64.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $964.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -10.77%.

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.