Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Ashland Inc. $ASH

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 217,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,397,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CM Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ashland in the third quarter worth $479,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in Ashland by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 100,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its position in Ashland by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 12,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Ashland by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,287 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Ashland by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASH. Zacks Research raised shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ashland from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Argus increased their price target on Ashland from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.67.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE:ASH opened at $54.91 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Ashland Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.21 and a twelve month high of $65.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.63, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.42.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $386.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $401.42 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.58% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be given a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ashland’s payout ratio is presently -10.99%.

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.