ING Groep NV Invests $9.97 Million in Ashland Inc. $ASH

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 170,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,974,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ASH. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 284.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after buying an additional 2,555,585 shares in the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ashland in the third quarter worth about $107,318,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 775.6% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,473,000 after buying an additional 1,682,994 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1,080,682.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,437,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,335,000 after buying an additional 1,437,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 807.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,123,804 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,841,000 after buying an additional 1,000,006 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ASH shares. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Evercore set a $62.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.78.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE:ASH opened at $56.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.63. Ashland Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.29 and a twelve month high of $65.64. 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 (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.89%.

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.