Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Declares $0.42 Quarterly Dividend

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st.

Ashland has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Ashland has a dividend payout ratio of 35.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ashland to earn $4.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.7%.

Ashland Stock Performance

Shares of ASH stock opened at $74.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 3.05. Ashland has a fifty-two week low of $46.29 and a fifty-two week high of $78.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.10, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.40.

Institutional Trading of Ashland

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASH. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ashland by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,801,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,668,000 after buying an additional 345,919 shares during the period. Thames Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ashland in the fourth quarter worth about $10,342,000. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in Ashland during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,974,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ashland by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 308,628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,163,000 after acquiring an additional 22,288 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ashland during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $264,000. Institutional investors own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

About Ashland

Ashland Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and supplies a broad range of performance and process-critical additives, ingredients and technologies. Its portfolio spans performance additives for coatings, adhesives and sealants; specialty ingredients for personal care and pharmaceutical applications; and process aids used in water treatment and other industrial processes. Ashland aims to address customer challenges by delivering tailored solutions that improve product performance, processing efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Founded in 1924 as the Ashland Oil & Refining Company, the firm gradually expanded into the specialty chemicals sector over the second half of the 20th century.