Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 407.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 139,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 112,169 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Ashland were worth $13,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ASH. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new position in Ashland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $340,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Ashland by 143.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Ashland by 274.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 495,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,797,000 after purchasing an additional 363,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ashland Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of ASH stock opened at $87.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.02. Ashland Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $544.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.08 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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.