Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Price Target Cut to $100.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $112.00 to $100.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on Ashland from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ashland from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered Ashland from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ashland from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ashland from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $104.63.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of Ashland stock opened at $82.07 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.90. Ashland has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $102.50. 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 (NYSE:ASH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $544.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $577.08 million. Ashland had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 9.09%. Ashland’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Ashland by 696.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 52,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,415,000 after buying an additional 45,796 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Ashland during the first quarter worth about $624,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Ashland by 56.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 216,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,042,000 after buying an additional 78,013 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ashland during the first quarter worth about $3,480,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Ashland by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,424,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $204,435,000 after buying an additional 164,468 shares in the last quarter. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by 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.