Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Plans $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the shipping company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Ardmore Shipping has raised its dividend payment by an average of 184.4% annually over the last three years. Ardmore Shipping has a payout ratio of 68.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $1.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.4%.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of ASC traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $12.86. 1,311,995 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 629,262. The stock has a market cap of $538.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.26. The company has a quick ratio of 3.18, a current ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Ardmore Shipping has a twelve month low of $12.69 and a twelve month high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $61.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.77 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 24.26% and a net margin of 36.31%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

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.