Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.67.

Several analysts have weighed in on ASH shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ashland in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $100.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, TheStreet raised Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 167.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 39,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,311,000 after acquiring an additional 24,569 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ashland in the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,468 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ashland in the fourth quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 20,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $97.43 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $105.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.14. The company has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94 and a beta of 0.92.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.24. Ashland had a return on equity of 5.95% and a net margin of 7.62%. The firm had revenue of $473.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $478.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ashland will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Ashland’s payout ratio is 50.49%.

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.