Flat Footed LLC Buys New Position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Flat Footed LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 948,865 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,293,599,000. Ardmore Shipping makes up approximately 1.0% of Flat Footed LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Flat Footed LLC owned approximately 2.33% of Ardmore Shipping at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter worth $53,878,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,452,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $37,399,000 after purchasing an additional 24,244 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 18.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,736,632 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,484,000 after purchasing an additional 266,275 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,298,294 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $15,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter worth about $7,615,000. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $17.99 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.84, a current ratio of 5.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $732.61 million, a PE ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 0.03. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 12-month low of $10.31 and a 12-month high of $20.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.25.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.07. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.67% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business had revenue of $116.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.23%.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.