StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Ashland (NYSE:ASH)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Ashland (NYSE:ASH – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ASH. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ashland from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $118.00 to $115.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Ashland from $141.00 to $136.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ashland from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ashland from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $104.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $128.13.

Ashland Stock Down 1.4 %

ASH opened at $95.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 3.72. Ashland has a fifty-two week low of $91.66 and a fifty-two week high of $114.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $104.75 and its 200 day moving average is $104.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 1.00.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.02. Ashland had a net margin of 38.23% and a return on equity of 9.82%. The company had revenue of $525.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $516.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ashland will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were issued a $0.335 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.32%.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eminence Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 4,083,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $420,854,000 after buying an additional 48,800 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,321,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $249,680,000 after buying an additional 61,216 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,043,155 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $210,547,000 after buying an additional 67,631 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,857,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $176,392,000 after buying an additional 21,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ashland by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,762,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $167,425,000 after buying an additional 33,518 shares during the last quarter. 92.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ashland

(Get Rating)

Ashland, Inc engages in the provision of architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care, and pharmaceutical. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences, Personal Care, Special Additives, and Intermediates. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.