Ashland Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:ASH)

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of 0.405 per share by the basic materials company on Sunday, December 15th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Ashland has raised its dividend by an average of 10.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Ashland has a payout ratio of 33.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ashland to earn $5.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.2%.

Ashland Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of ASH traded down $1.08 on Friday, hitting $76.97. 219,192 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 422,190. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.44. Ashland has a one year low of $75.90 and a one year high of $102.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.06.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.02). Ashland had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The company had revenue of $522.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ashland will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ASH. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ashland from $105.00 to $92.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ashland from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ashland from $116.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ashland from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ashland from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ashland currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $104.57.

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.

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