Federated Hermes Inc. Increases Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 405,741 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 9,517 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $5,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 15,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 15,476 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 35,214 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 3,108 shares in the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth $141,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth $141,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ASC shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com lowered Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 1.5 %

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $16.61 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $11.59 and a twelve month high of $17.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.75, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $674.86 million, a P/E ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 0.38.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The business 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 company’s revenue was down 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is 30.77%.

Ardmore Shipping Profile

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.