Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Grows Stake in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,436 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,923 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned about 0.40% of Ardmore Shipping worth $2,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASC. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the third quarter worth about $59,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1,689.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,444 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 7,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 536.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,737 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardmore Shipping news, Director Curtis B. Mcwilliams sold 16,277 shares of Ardmore Shipping stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.38, for a total transaction of $315,448.26. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 60,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,842.74. This trade represents a 21.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Bart B. Kelleher sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.07, for a total transaction of $152,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 60,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,144,943.73. This trade represents a 11.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $766,048.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ASC shares. Evercore set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.00.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of ASC stock opened at $15.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.95. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 12-month low of $9.80 and a 12-month high of $20.02. The company has a quick ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $628.38 million, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.04.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $87.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.08 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 18.00%.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.1%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.29%.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is a Bermuda-based provider of seaborne transportation services for refined petroleum products. The company owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including medium-range (MR), long-range 2 (LR2) and Aframax vessels. Ardmore Shipping focuses on the ocean carriage of clean and dirty petroleum products under time charters, bareboat charters and spot voyages, serving a diverse customer base that includes major oil companies and trading houses.

Since its founding in 2005, Ardmore Shipping has grown its fleet through newbuilding contracts, second-hand acquisitions and fleet renewals, aiming to maintain a high quality, fuel-efficient profile.