Ashland (ASH) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Covington, Kentucky, that develops and manufactures a wide array of performance materials and specialty additives. The company’s portfolio spans multiple industries, serving customers in automotive, construction, energy, personal care, pharmaceuticals and water treatment markets. Through a combination of in‐house research capabilities and strategic partnerships, Ashland focuses on delivering tailored solutions that enhance product performance, process efficiency and sustainability.

Key product categories include adhesives and sealants, process aids, rheology modifiers, specialty surfactants and polymer additives. In the energy sector, Ashland supplies high‐performance fluids and drilling chemicals designed to optimize well construction, production and completion operations. In personal care and pharmaceuticals, the company offers functional ingredients and excipients that address formulation challenges, stability requirements and sensory properties for creams, lotions, tablets and capsules.

Ashland maintains a broad geographic footprint with manufacturing, R&D and sales operations across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia‐Pacific region. This global network enables the company to respond quickly to regional market trends and regulatory demands, and to support multinational customers with local technical service and supply chain solutions. Ashland’s emphasis on operational excellence and quality control ensures consistency and reliability in high‐volume production environments.

Founded in 1924, Ashland has evolved through targeted acquisitions, divestitures and spin‐offs to sharpen its focus on specialty materials. The company is guided by an experienced leadership team committed to innovation, sustainability and customer collaboration. Under the direction of its chief executive officer, the organization continues to invest in research and development, digital capabilities and environmentally responsible practices to drive long‐term value creation for stakeholders.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $50.15 to $51.59
• 50-Day Range: $48.36 to $54.47
• 52-Week Range: $45.21 to $98.44
• Volume: 179,462 shs
• Average Volume: 559,998 shs
• Market Capitalization: $2.34 billion
• P/E Ratio: N/A
• Dividend Yield: 3.24%
• Price Target: $68.40
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Ashland Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ashland scored higher than 92% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 21st out of 189 stocks in the basic materials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Ashland has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.40, and is based on 2 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ashland has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 23.89%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ashland are expected to grow by 23.89% in the coming year, from $4.27 to $5.29 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ashland is -21.15, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ashland is -21.15, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Ashland has a PEG Ratio of 1.46. 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 0.87. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.23% 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 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ashland has recently decreased by 3.31%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Ashland pays a meaningful dividend of 3.17%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Ashland has been increasing its dividend for 16 years.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Ashland will have a dividend payout ratio of 31.38% next year. This indicates that Ashland will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Environmental Score: -4.44

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.23% 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 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ashland has recently decreased by 3.31%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.8 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.25

News Sentiment

Ashland has a news sentiment score of 0.25. 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 0.58 average news sentiment score of Basic Materials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 18 news articles for Ashland this week, compared to 19 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

5 people have searched for ASH on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 150% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 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

Only 1.02% 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.

ASH Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have ASH shares performed this year?

Ashland's stock was trading at $71.46 at the start of the year. Since then, ASH shares have decreased by 28.9% and is now trading at $50.8350.

How were Ashland's earnings last quarter?

Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) released its earnings results on Wednesday, April, 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Ashland's quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Does Ashland have any subsidiaries?

The following companies are subsidiaries of Ashland: Schülke & Mayr - Personal Care Business, Vornia, Pharmachem Laboratories, Oil Can Henry’s, International Specialty Products, Hercules, Northwest Coatings, and others.

Who are Ashland's major shareholders?

Ashland's top institutional shareholders include Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. (0.38%), Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC (0.13%), Pallas Capital Advisors LLC (0.05%) and First Financial Bank Trust Division (0.01%). Insiders that own company stock include Guillermo Novo, Eric N Boni, J Kevin Willis and Robin E Lampkin.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Ashland?

Shares of ASH stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Ashland own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Ashland investors own include Netflix (NFLX), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Meta Platforms (META), Chevron (CVX), Intel (INTC) and NVIDIA (NVDA).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 4/30/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 6/15 Dividend: 5/30/2025
• Record date for 6/15 Dividend: 6/01/2025
• Dividend Payable: 6/15/2025
• Today: 7/16/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/05/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 9/30/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Basic Materials
• Industry: CHEM - SPECIALTY
• Sub-Industry: Specialty Chemicals
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ASH
• CIK: 1674862
• Web: www.ashland.com
• Phone: (302) 995-3000
• Fax: 859-815-5188
• Employees: 3,200
• Year Founded: 1924

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Ashland: $68.40
• High Price Target: $84.00
• Low Price Target: $58.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +33.9%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.40
• Research Coverage: 5 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): ($2.40)
• Trailing P/E Ratio: N/A
• Forward P/E Ratio: 11.97
• P/E Growth: 1.46
• Net Income: $169 million
• Net Margins: -5.74%
• Pretax Margin: -11.03%
• Return on Equity: 7.14%
• Return on Assets: 3.59%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.52
• Current Ratio: 2.32
• Quick Ratio: 1.15

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $2.11 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.11
• Cash Flow: $10.06 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 5.08
• Book Value: $58.73 per share
• Price / Book: 0.87

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 45,700,000
• Free Float: 45,230,000
• Market Cap: $2.34 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.51