Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Posts Earnings Results

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.13, Yahoo Finance reports. The firm had revenue of $575.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.64 million. Ashland had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 5.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share.

Ashland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ASH traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.85. The company had a trading volume of 229,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 365,361. Ashland has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $99.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 0.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ASH shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ashland from $114.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet raised Ashland from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ashland from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.11.

Ashland Company Profile

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.