Ashland Inc.’s ASH board recently raised the quarterly cash dividend on the company's common stock by 15% to 38.5 cents per share from the previous quarter. Stockholders on record at the close of business as of Jun 1, 2023, will receive the dividend on Jun 15, 2023. Notably, 52,353,681 shares of Ashland common stock were outstanding as of Apr 30, 2023.
The company's goal is to have an annual dividend payout ratio of about 30% of adjusted income from continuing operations. This new policy indicates ASH’s commitment to raising dividends each year in line with the anticipated yearly earnings growth, as disclosed during Investor Day in November 2021.
Additionally, Ashland disclosed its plans to start a new 10b5-1 trading plan agreement in order to buy back up to $100 million worth of its outstanding shares under its current May 2022 evergreen share repurchase authorization. The new 10b5-1 program is anticipated to be finished in the June 2023 fiscal quarter.
Ashland will have returned about $950 million to its shareholders over the last three years, including the additional $100 million repurchase program. Ashland's strong balance sheet and financial performance allow it to invest in significant plans and growth projects while returning capital to shareholders.
Price Performance
Shares of Ashland have lost 9.2% over the past year compared with a 0.1% decline of its industry.
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On its fiscal second-quarterearnings call ASH stated that it initiated actions to reduce inventories in certain product lines for impacted end markets in April, factoring in continued customer destocking and external uncertainties for the second half of fiscal 2023. The company expects these actions to unfavorably impact its adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the fiscal by roughly $20 million. Sales for fiscal 2023 have been projected to be in the $2.3-$2.4 billion range, reflecting weaker worldwide demand.
Ashland Inc. Price and Consensus
Ashland Inc. price-consensus-chart | Ashland Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Ashland currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Better-ranked stocks to consider in the basic materials space include Steel Dynamics Inc. STLD, Nucor Corporation NUE and PPG Industries Inc. PPG. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Steel Dynamics currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). STLD’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 10.7% on average. STLD has rallied around 21.7% in a year.
Nucor currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. NUE’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 10.8% on average. NUE has rallied around 9.4% in a year.
PPG currently has a Zacks Rank #2. PPG’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 6.8% on average. PPG has rallied around 12.1% in a year.
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