Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Shares Acquired by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 37.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,767 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,648 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.05% of Ardmore Shipping worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 43.4% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,848,449 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,006,000 after purchasing an additional 862,349 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,291,314 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $33,019,000 after purchasing an additional 113,069 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 913,151 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $13,159,000 after purchasing an additional 237,920 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 519.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 853,129 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $5,946,000 after purchasing an additional 715,406 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 669,229 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,644,000 after purchasing an additional 204,821 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.45% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

ASC opened at $12.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $546.99 million, a PE ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.57. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $8.75 and a twelve month high of $19.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $60.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.89 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 37.98% and a return on equity of 39.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 31.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $24.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target (up from $16.00) on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 25th.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. As of March 15, 2023, the company operated a fleet of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and five chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers.