Jane Street Group LLC Grows Position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,379 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Ashland were worth $2,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Ashland in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Ashland by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Ashland by 84.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 994 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Ashland by 302.4% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,489 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Ashland in the fourth quarter worth $127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASH has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ashland from $71.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ashland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ashland from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Ashland from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.60.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASH opened at $51.90 on Thursday. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.21 and a 1-year high of $102.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $53.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of -78.64, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.58.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.11). Ashland had a negative net margin of 1.12% and a positive return on equity of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $479.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.79 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Ashland’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 1st will be issued a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -69.17%.

About Ashland

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.