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

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid 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 is Friday, November 29th.

Ashland has increased its dividend by an average of 10.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Ashland has a dividend payout ratio of 33.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ASH stock traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $76.96. 287,372 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 422,497. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.06. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $75.90 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $524.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Ashland’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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