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

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two 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 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.6667.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Seaport Research Partners raised Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Argus lowered their price objective on Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC increased 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 valued at $154,009,000 after acquiring an additional 385,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in 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 valued at $138,793,000 after purchasing an additional 267,741 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $111,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,994 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $105,668,000 after purchasing an additional 345,919 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:ASH opened at $64.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.15, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.43. Ashland has a 52-week low of $46.29 and a 52-week high of $68.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 3.06.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.61 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.