Patten & Patten Inc. TN Decreases Holdings in Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lessened its stake in shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) by 36.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,675 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Ashland were worth $700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Ashland by 9.4% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,314,387 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $218,686,000 after buying an additional 198,913 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ashland by 616.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 189,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,875,000 after purchasing an additional 162,776 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Ashland during the second quarter worth about $14,346,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Ashland by 9.0% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,806,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $175,864,000 after purchasing an additional 149,483 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Ashland by 407.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 139,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,202,000 after purchasing an additional 112,169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ASH shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.50.

Ashland Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of ASH opened at $78.75 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Ashland Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.08 and a 1-year high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $522.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.07 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ashland Inc. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ashland

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.