Bleakley Financial Group LLC Purchases 678 Shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 678 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Street Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Eqis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth about $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 253.8% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,621 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 3,315 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 874.3% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 5,125 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 4,599 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $15.92 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.21 and its 200 day moving average is $14.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 3.38. The firm has a market cap of $646.83 million, a P/E ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 0.38. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a one year low of $11.59 and a one year high of $17.17.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $98.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.26 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 29.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.28%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers.