Brokerages Set Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) PT at $103.50

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $103.50.

ASH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 122.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Ashland in the 4th quarter valued at about $67,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 143.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ashland in the second quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 8,211.1% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Up 0.2 %

Ashland stock opened at $87.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Ashland has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.88.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.08 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 7.01%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ashland will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.97%.

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.