Creative Planning Has $384,000 Stock Position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Creative Planning reduced its stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 447 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Ashland were worth $384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 0.5% in the second quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 50,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,748,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 16.5% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 1,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 193.1% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 7.6% in the first quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 4,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ASH shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.50.

Ashland Trading Down 7.6 %

ASH stock opened at $80.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $86.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.66. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $71.55 and a one year high of $102.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.88.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $522.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.07 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ashland Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

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.