Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.6667.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ASH shares. Zacks Research raised Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore set a $62.00 price target on Ashland in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in 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. boosted its position in shares of Ashland by 59.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Ashland during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Ashland during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth approximately $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Price Performance

ASH stock opened at $50.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.72. Ashland has a 1 year low of $45.21 and a 1 year high of $65.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $386.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $401.42 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a positive return on equity of 7.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.415 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -10.99%.

About Ashland

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.