Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.6667.

ASH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Ashland from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $63.00 price target on Ashland in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Ashland in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ashland from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Ashland by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Ashland by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,875,000 after buying an additional 2,701 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its position in Ashland by 240.3% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 17,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 12,542 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ashland in the fourth quarter valued at $451,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Ashland by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 90,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,371,000 after acquiring an additional 26,840 shares during the period. 93.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ashland Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of ASH stock opened at $63.15 on Friday. Ashland has a 12-month low of $45.21 and a 12-month high of $66.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.32 and a 200-day moving average of $55.21. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.43.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $386.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $401.42 million. Ashland had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a positive return on equity of 7.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ashland will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ashland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be issued a $0.415 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ashland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.99%.

Key Ashland News

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visit to new lithium‑ion materials facility — a congressional visit signals policy/industry interest and local support for Ashland’s battery‑materials expansion, which could help future revenue growth in higher‑margin battery markets. Congressman Hal Rogers visits Ashland’s new lithium-ion material facility
• Neutral Sentiment: City breaks ground on large wastewater treatment project — local infrastructure build could modestly boost regional construction and services demand but is unlikely to materially affect Ashland Inc.’s corporate fundamentals. Ashland breaks ground on city’s largest wastewater treatment project
• Neutral Sentiment: Local disruptions (City Hall inspection/evacuation, school closures, wildfire air‑quality impacts) — these are community items that may cause short‑term operational or staffing disruptions for any businesses with local operations, but there’s no clear evidence they affect Ashland Inc.’s corporate production or sales. Ashland City Hall inspection forces staff to vacate Ashland schools out for remainder of week due to air quality concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Local wildfire and fire‑damage stories — ongoing wildfire impacts in the region (homes/businesses affected, poor air quality) increase local operational risk and could be a headwind for nearby facilities or supply chains; if Ashland Inc. has exposure in the affected area, this could be a negative near‑term factor. Ashland business owner forced abandon dream home due to fire

Ashland Company Profile

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.