Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $347,000 Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,458 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 1,060 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Ardmore Shipping worth $347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 1,647.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 670,993 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,153,000 after buying an additional 632,592 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,413,554 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $17,175,000 after acquiring an additional 279,403 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter worth about $2,631,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 712,587 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,658,000 after acquiring an additional 183,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Numerai GP LLC raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 241.4% in the fourth quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 256,128 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,112,000 after acquiring an additional 181,100 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 1.0%

ASC opened at $9.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.73 and a quick ratio of 3.36. The company has a market cap of $405.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.24. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $8.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.70.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 26.78%. The business had revenue of $74.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping Corporation will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ASC. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

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.