Ashland Inc. (ASH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 on June 15th

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Saturday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the basic materials company on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This is a boost from Ashland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Ashland has increased its dividend by an average of 10.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Ashland has a dividend payout ratio of 28.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ashland to earn $5.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.0%.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $97.86. The stock had a trading volume of 319,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,224. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Ashland has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $99.55. The firm has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $95.87 and its 200-day moving average is $87.36.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.13. Ashland had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 9.09%. The business had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ASH. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ashland from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ashland in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Ashland from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ashland has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.44.

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.