Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Shares Sold by Leisure Capital Management

Leisure Capital Management cut its holdings in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 22.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,462 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,973 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Ashland were worth $882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ashland by 156.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 138,089 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,643,000 after acquiring an additional 84,188 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Alesco Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland during the 4th quarter valued at about $981,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in shares of Ashland by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 31,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,696,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Ashland in the 4th quarter worth about $543,000. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ASH. TheStreet upgraded Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $112.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $126.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Ashland in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Ashland Price Performance

ASH traded up $0.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $96.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 252,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 304,569. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.08. Ashland Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $101.94. The company has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 0.92.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $473.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.69 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.62% and a return on equity of 5.95%. The business’s revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ashland Inc. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Company 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.