Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Receives $13.67 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat 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 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.6667.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASC. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth $21,019,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,749,153 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $20,762,000 after acquiring an additional 106,497 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,298,294 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,411,000 after acquiring an additional 16,524 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 3.4% in the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,242,297 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $11,926,000 after purchasing an additional 40,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 7.0% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 496,757 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 32,347 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

ASC opened at $11.96 on Monday. Ardmore Shipping has a 1 year low of $8.32 and a 1 year high of $13.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 4.46 and a quick ratio of 4.08. The company has a market capitalization of $485.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33 and a beta of -0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $11.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.57.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 6.69%. The company had revenue of $81.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Ardmore Shipping’s revenue was down 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 51.28%.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is a Bermuda-based provider of seaborne transportation services for refined petroleum products. The company owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including medium-range (MR), long-range 2 (LR2) and Aframax vessels. Ardmore Shipping focuses on the ocean carriage of clean and dirty petroleum products under time charters, bareboat charters and spot voyages, serving a diverse customer base that includes major oil companies and trading houses.

Since its founding in 2005, Ardmore Shipping has grown its fleet through newbuilding contracts, second-hand acquisitions and fleet renewals, aiming to maintain a high quality, fuel-efficient profile.