Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.7778.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Research Partners raised Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th.

Ashland Price Performance

Ashland stock opened at $66.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.83. Ashland has a 1 year low of $46.29 and a 1 year high of $69.66.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is -10.89%.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASH. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 284.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares in the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ashland by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Standard Investments LLC now owns 2,625,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $154,009,000 after acquiring an additional 385,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ashland by 12.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,496,021 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $138,793,000 after purchasing an additional 267,741 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 775.6% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,668,000 after purchasing an additional 345,919 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ashland

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.