Ashland (ASH) to Release Earnings on Tuesday

Analysts expect Ashland to announce earnings of $0.9850 per share and revenue of $485.9780 million for the quarter.

Ashland ( NYSE:ASH – Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Ashland had a negative net margin of 39.03% and a positive return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $482.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Ashland to post $4 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ashland Trading Down 0.3% NYSE:ASH opened at $66.39 on Friday. Ashland has a 1 year low of $46.29 and a 1 year high of $69.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.19 and a 200-day moving average of $59.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 3.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.31, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41.

Ashland Increases Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Ashland's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Ashland's dividend payout ratio is -10.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $58.00 target price on Ashland in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Seaport Research Partners raised Ashland from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ashland from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.78.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ashland by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,784 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Ashland by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,855 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter.