Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Receives $15.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.00.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ASC. Wall Street Zen raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of ASC opened at $14.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a current ratio of 4.33. Ardmore Shipping has a fifty-two week low of $8.32 and a fifty-two week high of $16.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.52. The company has a market capitalization of $580.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02 and a beta of -0.16.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.22%.The firm had revenue of $82.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.00 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASC. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,529 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 4,328 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 242,258 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,566,000 after purchasing an additional 23,580 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter worth approximately $714,000. Finally, Susquehanna Portfolio Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter worth approximately $314,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is a Bermuda-based provider of seaborne transportation services for refined petroleum products. The company owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including medium-range (MR), long-range 2 (LR2) and Aframax vessels. Ardmore Shipping focuses on the ocean carriage of clean and dirty petroleum products under time charters, bareboat charters and spot voyages, serving a diverse customer base that includes major oil companies and trading houses.

Since its founding in 2005, Ardmore Shipping has grown its fleet through newbuilding contracts, second-hand acquisitions and fleet renewals, aiming to maintain a high quality, fuel-efficient profile.