Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Stake Cut by Newport Trust Company LLC

Newport Trust Company LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 560,197 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 15,274 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC owned approximately 1.12% of Ashland worth $52,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in Ashland by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,725 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Ashland by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ashland by 122.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in Ashland by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,358 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Ashland by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 21,035 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com cut Ashland from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ashland from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $103.50.

Ashland Stock Down 0.8 %

ASH traded down $0.68 on Friday, reaching $87.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,055,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,144. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Ashland Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $102.50. The business's 50 day moving average is $89.44 and its 200 day moving average is $94.09. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.88.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.08 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Ashland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.97%.

Ashland 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.