Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.7778.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Ashland in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

Ashland Price Performance

Ashland stock opened at $57.97 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 3.06. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.40. Ashland has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $65.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is an increase from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio is presently -10.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 284.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Standard Investments LLC now owns 2,625,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $154,009,000 after acquiring an additional 385,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ashland by 12.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,496,021 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $138,793,000 after acquiring an additional 267,741 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ashland by 775.6% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ashland by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,668,000 after acquiring an additional 345,919 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.