Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives $101.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $101.00.

ASH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $100.00 to $126.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASH. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ashland by 122.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ashland during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ashland by 143.9% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Ashland by 338.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Ashland by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE ASH opened at $95.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $95.00 and a 200-day moving average of $85.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35 and a beta of 0.92. Ashland has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $103.43.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $473.00 million during 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%. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.33 EPS for the current 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.