Harbour Investments Inc. Sells 489 Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Harbour Investments Inc. trimmed its position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 489 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ashland were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Ashland by 193.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 610.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 133.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ashland by 8,211.1% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ashland in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,000. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. StockNews.com cut Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.57.

Ashland Price Performance

ASH opened at $76.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.88. Ashland Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.90 and a 1 year high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $522.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.07 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 7.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Ashland’s payout ratio is presently 48.36%.

Ashland Company 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.