Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires New Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,986 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 302.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,890 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 228.1% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 3,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,010 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,252 shares during the period. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ASC shares. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 1.9%

ASC opened at $9.78 on Tuesday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a one year low of $8.32 and a one year high of $23.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 3.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.19 and a beta of -0.02.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business had revenue of $74.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was down 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.05%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

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.