Brokerages Set Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Price Target at $102.00

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $102.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ASH. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ashland from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Ashland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ashland from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Robin E. Lampkin sold 868 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.90, for a total transaction of $67,617.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 2,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,585.70. This represents a 23.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Eric N. Boni sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.07, for a total value of $35,209.57. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,188.74. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ashland by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,773,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $262,037,000 after purchasing an additional 86,977 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Ashland by 12.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,598,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $226,000,000 after buying an additional 284,215 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Ashland by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,737,738 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $151,131,000 after purchasing an additional 103,517 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ashland by 6,127.2% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 880,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $76,574,000 after buying an additional 866,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 827,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,316 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Ashland Trading Down 0.8 %

Ashland stock opened at $71.57 on Friday. Ashland has a one year low of $70.67 and a one year high of $102.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.60 and its 200 day moving average is $86.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.86.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $522.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.07 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 7.95%. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ashland will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Ashland’s payout ratio is presently 48.36%.

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.