Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives $66.11 Average PT from Brokerages

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.1111.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASH. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 284.3% in 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 buying an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Standard Investments LLC now owns 2,625,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $154,009,000 after buying an additional 385,000 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 775.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,682,994 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Ashland by 23.8% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ashland by 13,240.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,736,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723,159 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ASH opened at $58.52 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of -3.87, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.45. Ashland has a 52-week low of $46.29 and a 52-week high of $65.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $386.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $401.42 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a positive return on equity of 7.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 1st were issued a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.99%.

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.