Ashland (NYSE:ASH) PT Raised to $110.00

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Mizuho from $101.00 to $110.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.83% from the company’s current price.

ASH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. TheStreet raised shares of Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ashland in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.11.

Ashland Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ASH opened at $95.79 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.30. Ashland has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $99.55.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $575.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. Ashland had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 5.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ashland will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,658,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,118,000 after purchasing an additional 62,182 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,424,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,435,000 after purchasing an additional 164,468 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 14.6% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,953,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,522,000 after purchasing an additional 248,591 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,671,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,932,000 after purchasing an additional 256,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,656,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,673,000 after purchasing an additional 252,104 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.