Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives $107.88 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $107.88.

ASH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ashland from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 167.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 107,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,070,000 after purchasing an additional 67,556 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 696.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 52,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,415,000 after acquiring an additional 45,796 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,671,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,932,000 after acquiring an additional 256,828 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ashland in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,480,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,424,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $204,435,000 after acquiring an additional 164,468 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Stock Up 0.9 %

Ashland stock opened at $93.15 on Friday. Ashland has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $102.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $97.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.78. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.13. Ashland had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The firm had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ashland will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, June 1st were paid a $0.405 dividend. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.97%.

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.