Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Price Target Raised to $60.00

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

ASH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Argus cut their price target on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Ashland in a report on Monday, September 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Ashland from $62.00 to $53.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ashland from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ashland currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE ASH opened at $59.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.45. Ashland has a fifty-two week low of $45.21 and a fifty-two week high of $73.43.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $509.00 million for the quarter. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 46.25%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.415 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.05%.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 3,673.3% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Ashland by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Abound Wealth Management acquired a new position in Ashland in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Ashland during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Ashland News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its price target on Ashland from $60 to $70 and set an “outperform” rating, implying roughly 17.8% upside from the stock’s recent level — this is the largest bullish signal in the news set. Benzinga The Fly
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Ashland from $51 to $60 and kept an “equal weight” rating — a smaller but supportive upgrade that reinforces the buy-side interest. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Local community and municipal stories tied to the city of Ashland (not the company) appeared in local press — e.g., holiday meals, school donations, a new police officer, and temporary parking changes — these are unlikely to affect Ashland Inc.’s business or stock materially. Free holiday meal in Ashland
• Neutral Sentiment: Local human-interest items (raccoon story) and law-enforcement reporting about ICE arrests in the city of Ashland are community news with no clear link to Ashland Inc.’s operations or financials. Raccoon story ICE arrests

Ashland Company Profile

Ashland Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of performance and process-critical additives, ingredients and technologies. Its portfolio spans performance additives for coatings, adhesives and sealants; specialty ingredients for personal care and pharmaceutical applications; and process aids used in water treatment and other industrial processes. Ashland aims to address customer challenges by delivering tailored solutions that improve product performance, processing efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Founded in 1924 as the Ashland Oil & Refining Company, the firm gradually expanded into the specialty chemicals sector over the second half of the 20th century.