Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives $63.75 Average PT from Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH – Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.75.

ASH has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ashland from $51.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ashland from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on ASH

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 3,673.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ashland by 59.0% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ashland in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ashland Price Performance

Ashland stock opened at $59.45 on Thursday. Ashland has a 12 month low of $45.21 and a 12 month high of $73.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $55.26 and its 200-day moving average is $52.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.24, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.43.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $509.00 million during the quarter. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 46.25%. Equities research analysts expect that Ashland will post 4.27 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.415 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Ashland’s payout ratio is -9.05%.

Ashland Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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