Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.97% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Ashland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ashland in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Ashland from $62.00 to $53.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on Ashland from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Ashland from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

Ashland Stock Performance

NYSE:ASH opened at $59.42 on Friday. Ashland has a twelve month low of $45.21 and a twelve month high of $73.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of -3.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.45.

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 9th. The basic materials company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter. Ashland had a negative net margin of 46.25% and a positive return on equity of 7.07%. The firm had revenue of $509.00 million during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that Ashland will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ashland

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASH. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ashland by 284.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $172,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,585 shares during the period. Standard Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ashland during the 3rd quarter valued at about $107,318,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Ashland by 807.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,123,804 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,006 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Ashland by 48.7% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,228,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,839,000 after purchasing an additional 402,286 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooperman Leon G lifted its stake in Ashland by 16.6% in the first quarter. Cooperman Leon G now owns 1,694,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,446,000 after buying an additional 240,686 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Stores Impacting Ashland

Here are the key news stories impacting Ashland this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its price target on Ashland from $60 to $70 and set an “outperform” rating, implying roughly 17.8% upside from the stock’s recent level — this is the largest bullish signal in the news set. Benzinga The Fly
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Ashland from $51 to $60 and kept an “equal weight” rating — a smaller but supportive upgrade that reinforces the buy-side interest. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Local community and municipal stories tied to the city of Ashland (not the company) appeared in local press — e.g., holiday meals, school donations, a new police officer, and temporary parking changes — these are unlikely to affect Ashland Inc.’s business or stock materially. Free holiday meal in Ashland
• Neutral Sentiment: Local human-interest items (raccoon story) and law-enforcement reporting about ICE arrests in the city of Ashland are community news with no clear link to Ashland Inc.’s operations or financials. Raccoon story ICE arrests

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.