Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Holdings Trimmed by Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,927,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,554 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 3.85% of Ashland worth $182,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ASH. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 274.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 495,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,797,000 after purchasing an additional 363,328 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,656,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $139,673,000 after purchasing an additional 252,104 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ashland during the second quarter valued at $14,346,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 407.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 139,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,202,000 after purchasing an additional 112,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 33.0% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 429,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,727,000 after purchasing an additional 106,417 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $86.70 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.98. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 7.01%. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, September 1st will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.97%.

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.