Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Acquired by Nordea Investment Management AB

Posted by on May 13th, 2023

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH – Get Rating) by 171.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,136 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,609 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Ashland were worth $2,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ASH. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in Ashland during the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Ashland by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ashland during the 3rd quarter worth $84,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Ashland during the 3rd quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, PFS Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. PFS Investments Inc. now owns 2,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.21% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of ASH opened at $90.36 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 3.46. Ashland Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.64 and a 1 year high of $114.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $603.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $627.61 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 9.66% and a net margin of 9.32%. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.385 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $104.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Ashland from $135.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ashland from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Ashland in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Ashland from $145.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ashland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.25.

About Ashland

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Ashland, Inc engages in the provision of architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care, and pharmaceutical. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences, Personal Care, Special Additives, and Intermediates. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Ashland (NYSE:ASH)

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