Custom Index Systems LLC Has $299,000 Stock Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Custom Index Systems LLC cut its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,534 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 2,075 shares during the quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth $54,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter valued at about $166,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the 1st quarter worth approximately $376,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 83.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,440 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 9,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter valued at approximately $459,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Fearnley Fonds raised Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.33.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of ASC stock opened at $14.80 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 3.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.67 and a 200-day moving average of $19.40. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a one year low of $12.69 and a one year high of $23.44. The company has a market cap of $601.28 million, a P/E ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.35.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 24.26%. The firm had revenue of $121.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.27%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.24%.

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.