Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Receives $12.67 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.6667.

A number of research analysts recently commented on ASC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Evercore ISI set a $13.00 price objective on Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

ASC stock opened at $11.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 3.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $452.51 million, a PE ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 0.09. Ardmore Shipping has a 1 year low of $8.32 and a 1 year high of $17.61.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $0.22 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $72.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASC. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth $21,019,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth $4,683,000. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the second quarter valued at $1,527,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 100.3% in the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 186,301 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 93,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,572,868 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,398,000 after acquiring an additional 81,361 shares in the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.