Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Upgraded to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ashland (NYSE:ASH) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ASH. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Ashland in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.78.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of ASH opened at $68.68 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Ashland has a twelve month low of $46.29 and a twelve month high of $69.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.00 and a 200-day moving average of $59.54.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.The business had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Ashland’s payout ratio is currently -10.89%.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 59.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ashland by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Ashland by 398.3% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Ashland by 535.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

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.