Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Friday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 1.9 %

ASC stock opened at $15.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 3.38. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $11.59 and a 52-week high of $17.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $645.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.38.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.50% and a return on equity of 22.76%. The company had revenue of $98.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.77%.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASC. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,276 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 15,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 15,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 4.8% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 16,712 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,375 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

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.