Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Bought by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 84.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 994 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 454 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Ashland were worth $71,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Ashland by 12.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,598,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000,000 after buying an additional 284,215 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ashland by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,022,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,074,000 after buying an additional 142,121 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 827,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,000,000 after buying an additional 2,316 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ashland by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 702,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $50,205,000 after buying an additional 26,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Ashland by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 517,266 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,964,000 after buying an additional 7,709 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ashland from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ashland from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $81.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ashland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.00.

Ashland Price Performance

ASH opened at $57.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Ashland Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.29 and a 52-week high of $102.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.05. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.51). Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.41% and a negative net margin of 1.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is currently -245.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Guillermo Novo bought 31,294 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $64.24 per share, for a total transaction of $2,010,326.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 31,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,010,326.56. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.