Brokerages Set Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Price Target at $12.67

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.6667.

A number of analysts recently commented on ASC shares. Evercore ISI set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:ASC opened at $13.17 on Tuesday. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $8.32 and a 52-week high of $18.79. The company has a market cap of $535.02 million, a P/E ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $11.15 and its 200-day moving average is $10.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.56 and a current ratio of 3.88.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 14.48%.The company had revenue of $72.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 27.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter valued at about $394,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 1,647.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 670,993 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,153,000 after acquiring an additional 632,592 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 6.3% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 6.9% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 430,441 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,214,000 after buying an additional 27,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Michels Family Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $350,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

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.