Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 98,023 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 47.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 108,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 98,023 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ashland were worth $5,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ashland by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Ashland by 59.0% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Ashland by 11.4% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Ashland by 3.3% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH opened at $66.56 on Friday. Ashland Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.29 and a 52-week high of $69.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 3.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.41.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is presently -10.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.78.

About Ashland

Ashland Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of performance and process-critical additives, ingredients and technologies. Its portfolio spans performance additives for coatings, adhesives and sealants; specialty ingredients for personal care and pharmaceutical applications; and process aids used in water treatment and other industrial processes. Ashland aims to address customer challenges by delivering tailored solutions that improve product performance, processing efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Founded in 1924 as the Ashland Oil & Refining Company, the firm gradually expanded into the specialty chemicals sector over the second half of the 20th century.