Neo Ivy Capital Management Invests $728,000 in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $728,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,134,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the second quarter valued at about $713,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ashland by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 671,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,492,000 after acquiring an additional 14,938 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,442,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 581,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ASH shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ashland from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ashland from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.00.

Ashland Stock Performance

ASH stock opened at $74.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.30. Ashland Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.75 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $522.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.07 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 7.43%. Ashland’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.36%.

Insider Activity at Ashland

In related news, SVP Robin E. Lampkin sold 868 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.90, for a total value of $67,617.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $224,585.70. This represents a 23.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Eric N. Boni sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.07, for a total value of $35,209.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,182 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,188.74. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.