Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives $63.78 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.7778.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ASH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on Ashland in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research raised Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ashland from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ashland by 59.0% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Ashland during the third quarter worth about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ashland by 38.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake 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 valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in Ashland by 535.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ashland Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:ASH opened at $68.48 on Monday. Ashland has a 12 month low of $46.29 and a 12 month high of $69.66. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.74 and its 200-day moving average is $59.74.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

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

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.