Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases New Holdings in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 207,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,183,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 284.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $172,318,000 after purchasing an additional 2,555,585 shares in the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Standard Investments LLC now owns 2,625,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $154,009,000 after buying an additional 385,000 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ashland by 775.6% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,473,000 after buying an additional 1,682,994 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ashland by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,668,000 after buying an additional 345,919 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Ashland by 13,240.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,736,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,159 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.67.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $65.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.78. Ashland Inc. has a one year low of $46.29 and a one year high of $68.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.61 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is presently -10.89%.

Ashland Company Profile

Ashland Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of performance and process-critical additives, ingredients and technologies. Its portfolio spans performance additives for coatings, adhesives and sealants; specialty ingredients for personal care and pharmaceutical applications; and process aids used in water treatment and other industrial processes. Ashland aims to address customer challenges by delivering tailored solutions that improve product performance, processing efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Founded in 1924 as the Ashland Oil & Refining Company, the firm gradually expanded into the specialty chemicals sector over the second half of the 20th century.