Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Stock Holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 15.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Ashland were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ASH. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Ashland by 163.7% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ashland by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,509 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 3,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 664,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,019,000 after acquiring an additional 37,977 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Ashland by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.50.

Ashland Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ASH opened at $88.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.98. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $91.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.70. The firm has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.43, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.90.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.08 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.97%.

About Ashland

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.