Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ASC. Jefferies Financial Group restated a buy rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ASC opened at $17.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $715.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 0.36. 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 1-year low of $11.59 and a 1-year high of $17.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.36 and a 200 day moving average of $15.24.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced 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 return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 29.50%. The firm had revenue of $98.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was down 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,758,657 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $38,870,000 after buying an additional 56,984 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,816,000 after acquiring an additional 134,233 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 606,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,551,000 after acquiring an additional 205,245 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 15.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 495,593 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,138,000 after acquiring an additional 64,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 405,741 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,717,000 after purchasing an additional 9,517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.