ProShare Advisors LLC Invests $142,000 in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,678 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 302.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Quarry LP increased 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 worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 228.1% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 3,422 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.67.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $9.68 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $393.04 million, a PE ratio of 3.16 and a beta of -0.02. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $8.32 and a twelve month high of $23.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.64.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.04 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business’s revenue was down 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

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

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.