Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $103.50.

A number of analysts have issued reports on ASH shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ashland from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Ashland Price Performance

NYSE ASH opened at $85.75 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.96. Ashland has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $544.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $577.08 million. Ashland had a net margin of 7.01% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ashland will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, September 1st were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Ashland by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Ashland by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its holdings in Ashland by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,358 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ashland by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 50,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,748,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

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.