Duality Advisers LP Invests $543,000 in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Duality Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 6,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $276,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 44,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,917 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ashland Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $95.24 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $95.20 and its 200-day moving average is $86.02. The stock has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21 and a beta of 0.92. Ashland Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $101.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $473.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ashland Inc. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Ashland 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.