Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

ASC has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 15th.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

NYSE:ASC opened at $20.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.28. The company has a market cap of $825.80 million, a P/E ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a current ratio of 3.75. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $11.59 and a 52-week high of $20.52.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 35.9% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 21,036 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 5,560 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 64,805 shares during the period. Significant Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter valued at $1,236,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 10.8% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 83,159 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 8,073 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter valued at $2,170,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.