Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Invests $7.62 Million in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 543,549 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,615,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth approximately $516,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter valued at $267,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter valued at $53,878,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter worth $489,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter worth $1,376,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ASC. Weiss Ratings cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.00.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 5.9%

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $16.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $689.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.03. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 1 year low of $10.31 and a 1 year high of $20.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.84 and a current ratio of 5.45.

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

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 122.01%.

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.