Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.67.

Several brokerages have weighed in on ASH. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $126.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ashland in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ashland from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASH. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Ashland by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,687,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $407,371,000 after buying an additional 53,087 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ashland by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,658,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $224,118,000 after buying an additional 62,182 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Ashland by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,424,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $204,435,000 after buying an additional 164,468 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ashland by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,953,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $159,522,000 after buying an additional 248,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Ashland by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,800,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,911,000 after buying an additional 11,482 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $97.43 on Friday. Ashland has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $105.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.14.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $478.69 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ashland will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Ashland Announces Dividend

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

Ashland Company Profile

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.