Analysts Set Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) PT at $12.67

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.6667.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASC. Evercore ISI set a $13.00 price target on Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Fearnley Fonds raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 3.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,458 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 25,570 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 3.2% in the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 39,202 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of ASC opened at $11.4550 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $465.30 million, a PE ratio of 11.12 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a current ratio of 3.88, a quick ratio of 3.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.99. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $19.24.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $72.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.92 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 14.48%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 263.0%. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous dividend of $0.05. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 19.42%.

Ardmore Shipping Company 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.