Schear Investment Advisers LLC Has $405,000 Holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC decreased its position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 922 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ashland were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Ashland by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,687,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $407,371,000 after purchasing an additional 53,087 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 33.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,260,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,624,000 after acquiring an additional 560,916 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ashland by 14.6% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,953,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,522,000 after acquiring an additional 248,591 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ashland by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,800,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,911,000 after purchasing an additional 11,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Ashland by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,671,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,932,000 after purchasing an additional 256,828 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ASH shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $100.00 to $126.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Ashland Trading Up 0.4 %

Ashland stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $95.90. 187,407 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 450,449. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.51. 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 market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36 and a beta of 0.92. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $104.64.

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

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.385 dividend. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Ashland’s payout ratio is 50.49%.

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.