Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Stock Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Ashland shares crossed above their 200-day moving average, reaching $72.16 and last trading near $71.66, compared with the 200-day average of $65.29.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: seven analysts rate the stock a Buy and five a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $74.10 average price target.
• Ashland pays a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, or $1.68 annually, yielding about 2.3%; however, its dividend payout ratio is elevated at 147.37%.

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report)'s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $65.29 and traded as high as $72.16. Ashland shares last traded at $71.6590, with a volume of 526,586 shares trading hands.

Key Ashland News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Ashland, Oregon, officials discussed options and a long-term vision for a vacant City Hall building. The municipal property matter is unrelated to Ashland Inc. Ashland discusses solutions for vacant city hall building Ashland City Council to discuss long-term vision for City Hall
• Neutral Sentiment: A widespread water outage was reported in Ashland, apparently referring to a local community and not Ashland Inc.’s operations. Ashland dealing with widespread water outage
• Neutral Sentiment: Other reports covered an Ashland temple, a Circle K bomb threat, and a police K9 trainer. These local-interest stories have no evident connection to Ashland Inc. Ashland temple feature Bomb threat made to Circle K in Ashland Ashland officer earns K9 master trainer status
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles reported high-school sports voting, soccer honors, and a volleyball tournament involving teams named Ashland. These stories are unrelated to the public company. Ashland Athlete of the Week Ashland soccer honors Ashland football player of the week Ashland volleyball recap

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ASH shares. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ashland in a report on Monday, July 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ashland from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ashland from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Ashland from $83.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.10.

Ashland Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $71.52 and a 200 day moving average of $65.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.40.

Ashland Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 1st. Ashland's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASH. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in Ashland during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,275,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Ashland by 7.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 308,628 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,163,000 after buying an additional 22,288 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ashland by 648,370.7% during the second quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,945,412 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $128,183,000 after buying an additional 1,945,112 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Ashland in the second quarter worth approximately $2,769,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Ashland in the second quarter worth approximately $26,256,000. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ashland Company Profile

Ashland Inc is a global specialty materials company that develops and supplies functional ingredients, additives and solutions for industrial and consumer markets. Its products are used to enhance the performance, stability, texture, appearance and processing of finished goods.

The company serves a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, personal care, coatings, construction, food and beverages, adhesives and specialty chemicals. Its portfolio includes polymers, cellulose-based ingredients, rheology modifiers, film-forming agents, preservatives and other specialty additives used in applications such as drug delivery, skin and hair care, architectural coatings and building materials.

Ashland traces its roots to 1924, when it was established as Ashland Refining Company in Kentucky.

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