JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Stock Price

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 25.65% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on ASH. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ashland from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore set a $62.00 price objective on Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $63.00 price objective on Ashland in a research report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ashland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.33.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of ASH opened at $51.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.35, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.70 and a 200-day moving average of $56.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Ashland has a 52 week low of $46.29 and a 52 week high of $65.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $964.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $485.61 million. Ashland had a positive return on equity of 8.06% and a negative net margin of 39.03%.Ashland’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ashland will post 3.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in Ashland by 3,673.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 59.0% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Ashland in the third quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors 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.