Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

ASH has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Ashland from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ashland from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ashland from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ashland from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ashland from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ashland has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.88.

Ashland Price Performance

ASH stock traded up $3.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $97.42. The stock had a trading volume of 240,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,432. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Ashland has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $102.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.38.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.13. Ashland had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The company had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $574.64 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ashland will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashland

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASH. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Ashland by 38.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 11,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in shares of Ashland by 94.2% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 16,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after buying an additional 8,019 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ashland by 167.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 107,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,070,000 after buying an additional 67,556 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Ashland by 696.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 52,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,415,000 after buying an additional 45,796 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ashland

Ashland Inc provides additives and specialty ingredients in the North and Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Life Sciences, Personal Care, Specialty Additives, and Intermediates segments. The Life Sciences segment offers pharmaceutical solutions, including controlled release polymers, disintegrants, tablet coatings, thickeners, solubilizers, and tablet binders; nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; and nutraceutical solutions comprising products for weight management, joint comfort, stomach and intestinal health, sports nutrition, and general wellness, as well as custom formulation, toll processing, and particle engineering solutions.