Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

ASH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Argus decreased their price objective on Ashland from $70.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ashland from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Six 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ashland currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.78.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of Ashland stock opened at $68.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of -4.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 3.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Ashland has a 12 month low of $46.29 and a 12 month high of $69.64.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $482.00 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fruth Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Ashland in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $210,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ashland by 38.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in Ashland during the first quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Dayah Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ashland in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,561,000. Finally, Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ashland by 25.8% in the first quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ashland

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.