Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Sets New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Ashland shares reached a new 52-week high of $72.25 and recently traded near $68.52, supported by a “Moderate Buy” consensus from analysts. Several firms raised their price targets to $72–$75.
• The company’s latest quarter fell slightly short of expectations, with earnings of $0.91 per share versus a $0.97 estimate and revenue of $482 million. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $3.51.
• Ashland increased its quarterly dividend to $0.42, representing a 2.5% yield, while institutional investors own nearly 94% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $72.25 and last traded at $68.5150, with a volume of 649894 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Ashland from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Ashland in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Ashland from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.20.

Ashland Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of -4.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.87.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $482.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $485.61 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ashland Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Ashland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Ashland's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Ashland's dividend payout ratio is currently -10.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ashland by 284.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 13,240.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,736,173 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $101,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,159 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ashland by 775.6% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $111,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,994 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Ashland by 1,080,682.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,437,440 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $84,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Ashland by 1,804.0% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,021,264 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $59,918,000 after purchasing an additional 967,626 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company's stock.

Ashland Company Profile

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.

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