16,939 Shares in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Acquired by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,939 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth approximately $423,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 23.6% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,861 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,797,000 after buying an additional 55,813 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 35,214 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 3,108 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 147.0% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 45,205 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter worth about $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $17.01 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 52-week low of $11.59 and a 52-week high of $17.05. The firm has a market cap of $691.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.08.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $98.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.26 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.50% and a return on equity of 22.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.77%.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers.