Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.7778.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ASH. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Argus lowered 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ashland by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Ashland during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 535.8% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE ASH opened at $68.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of -4.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.41. Ashland has a 1-year low of $46.29 and a 1-year high of $69.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.00 and a 200-day moving average of $59.54. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company 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 was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Ashland’s payout ratio is -10.89%.

About Ashland

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.