Ashland (ASH) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. In 2011, the company formally rebranded as Ashland Inc. to reflect its strategic focus on high-value chemical solutions. Today, Ashland is headquartered in Covington, Kentucky, and operates manufacturing facilities, research laboratories and technical service centers across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Ashland’s product offerings are organized around key market segments such as coatings and construction, personal care and pharmaceuticals, adhesives and sealants, and industrial process technologies. Its performance additives include rheology modifiers, dispersants and protective colloids, while its specialty ingredients range from emollients and surfactants to pharmaceutical excipients and polymer modifiers. The company works closely with customers in industries including paints and coatings, consumer goods, healthcare, energy and water treatment to co-create innovative formulations.

Research and development lie at the core of Ashland’s strategy, with multidisciplinary teams focusing on new product platforms, formulation optimization and sustainable processing methods. The company maintains partnerships with academic institutions and industry consortiums to accelerate innovation and drive environmental stewardship. Ashland is led by President and Chief Executive Officer William F. Oplinger, under whose direction the company continues to pursue growth through technology-led solutions and customer-centric collaboration.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $71.86 to $78.25
• 50-Day Range: $56.14 to $76.92
• 52-Week Range: $46.29 to $78.25
• Volume: 1.76 million shs
• Average Volume: 789,295 shs
• Market Capitalization: $3.52 billion
• P/E Ratio: 67.47
• Dividend Yield: 2.18%
• Price Target: $73.90
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Ashland Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ashland scored higher than 60% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 130th out of 227 stocks in the materials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Ashland has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.58, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 7 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Ashland is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ashland has been the subject of 10 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 19.38%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ashland are expected to grow by 19.38% in the coming year, from $3.56 to $4.25 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ashland is 67.47, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 45.28.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ashland is 67.47, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Materials sector average P/E ratio of about 21.13.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Ashland has a PEG Ratio of 1.85. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Ashland has a P/B Ratio of 1.85. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

12.60% of the float of Ashland has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ashland has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 9.72.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ashland has recently decreased by 0.71%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Ashland pays a meaningful dividend of 2.20%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Ashland has been increasing its dividend for 16 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Ashland is 147.37%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Ashland will have a dividend payout ratio of 39.53% next year. This indicates that Ashland will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.35

News Sentiment

Ashland has a news sentiment score of 0.35. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.56 average news sentiment score of Materials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 17 news articles for Ashland this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 1 people have searched for ASH on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Ashland to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Ashland insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

1.26% of the stock of Ashland is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

93.95% of the stock of Ashland is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 4/28/2026
• Record date for 6/15 Dividend: 6/01/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 6/15 Dividend: 6/01/2026
• Dividend Payable: 6/15/2026
• Today: 8/09/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 9/30/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Materials
• Industry: Chemicals
• Sub-Industry: Specialty Chemicals
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ASH
• CIK: 1674862
• Web: www.ashland.com
• Phone: (302) 995-3000
• Fax: 859-815-5188
• Employees: 2,900
• Year Founded: 1924

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Ashland: $73.90
• High Price Target: $85.00
• Low Price Target: $56.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -3.9%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.58
• Research Coverage: 12 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.14
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 67.47
• Forward P/E Ratio: 21.61
• P/E Growth: 1.85
• Net Income: -$845 million
• Net Margins: 2.82%
• Pretax Margin: 6.84%
• Return on Equity: 8.03%
• Return on Assets: 3.31%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.73
• Current Ratio: 3.05
• Quick Ratio: 1.89

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.82 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.93
• Cash Flow: $24.34 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 3.16
• Book Value: $41.66 per share
• Price / Book: 1.85

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 45,790,000
• Free Float: 45,216,000
• Market Cap: $3.52 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.40