Aristotle Capital Boston LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Aristotle Capital Boston LLC lowered its stake in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,018,767 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 97,611 shares during the period. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC owned approximately 2.51% of Ardmore Shipping worth $10,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ASC. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,769 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 18,500 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 234,987 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after purchasing an additional 16,458 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 311,162 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 58,330 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 1,689.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,444 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 7,972 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Down 1.2%

ASC stock opened at $16.58 on Thursday. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $9.45 and a fifty-two week high of $20.02. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 4.43 and a current ratio of 4.87. The company has a market capitalization of $675.26 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 18.00%.The firm had revenue of $87.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.08 million.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ardmore Shipping news, President Bart B. Kelleher sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.07, for a total transaction of $152,560.00. Following the transaction, the president owned 60,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,144,943.73. This represents a 11.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Curtis B. Mcwilliams sold 16,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.38, for a total value of $315,448.26. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,673 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,842.74. This trade represents a 21.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $766,048.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Evercore set a $19.00 price target on Ardmore Shipping in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.00.

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.