ING Groep NV Invests $9.97 Million in Ashland Inc. $ASH

ING Groep NV bought a new position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 170,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,974,000. ING Groep NV owned approximately 0.37% of Ashland at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASH. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 46,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 7,309 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in Ashland by 6.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Ashland by 49.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 284,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,865,000 after buying an additional 94,067 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Ashland by 1.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 387,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,953,000 after buying an additional 6,245 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Ashland by 10.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 152,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,061,000 after buying an additional 13,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASH has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore set a $62.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ashland has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.78.

Ashland Price Performance

NYSE ASH opened at $56.14 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a PE ratio of -3.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.43. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $65.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.63.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -10.89%.

About Ashland

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.