4,357 Shares in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Acquired by Point72 Hong Kong Ltd

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,357 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,085,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,587,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Ashland during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $194,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Ashland by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 671,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,492,000 after buying an additional 14,938 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Ashland by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 15,003 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,418,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ASH shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. 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 report on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ashland has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.50.

Ashland Trading Up 2.3 %

ASH opened at $87.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.53 and a 200-day moving average of $93.79. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.08 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 7.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Ashland’s payout ratio is 42.97%.

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.