Comerica Bank Purchases 64,968 Shares of Ashland Inc. $ASH

Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 346.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 83,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 64,968 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Ashland were worth $4,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ASH. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ashland by 284.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $107,318,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ashland by 807.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,123,804 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,006 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ashland during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,397,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ashland by 353.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 250,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,574,000 after acquiring an additional 194,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $51.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 3.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $55.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.45. Ashland Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $65.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $964.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.61 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ASH shares. Evercore set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $63.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.33.

Ashland Profile

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.