Brokerages Set Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Price Target at $101.00

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $101.00.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TheStreet raised Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ashland in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $112.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ashland from $70.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASH. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.1% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,687,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $407,371,000 after purchasing an additional 53,087 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,658,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,118,000 after acquiring an additional 62,182 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Ashland by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,424,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,435,000 after acquiring an additional 164,468 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ashland by 14.6% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,953,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,522,000 after acquiring an additional 248,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Ashland by 0.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,800,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,911,000 after purchasing an additional 11,482 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ashland Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ASH opened at $95.47 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.83 and a 200-day moving average of $85.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30 and a beta of 0.92. Ashland has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $104.92.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.385 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.