Foundry Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Foundry Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 402,534 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 162,766 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC owned approximately 0.96% of Ardmore Shipping worth $4,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 688.9% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 92,990 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 81,203 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 570,381 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,930,000 after purchasing an additional 8,008 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,413,554 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $17,175,000 after buying an additional 279,403 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,309,826 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,914,000 after buying an additional 63,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter valued at $213,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $8.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 3.86. The company has a market cap of $352.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.58. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 1-year low of $8.54 and a 1-year high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. Analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 10.46%.

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.