Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 65.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 162,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,961 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.35% of Ashland worth $9,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland in the third quarter valued at $38,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 535.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 398.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Ashland by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $66.39 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.78. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.29 and a 1-year high of $69.66. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is -10.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ashland from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.78.

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.