Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Purchases Shares of 98,571 Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 98,571 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,170,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL owned about 0.24% of Ardmore Shipping at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 848.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 324,295 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,849,000 after buying an additional 290,087 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 6.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,749,153 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $20,762,000 after acquiring an additional 106,497 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the third quarter valued at $864,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 52.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 199,628 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 68,830 shares during the period. Finally, CSM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 228,057 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,708,000 after acquiring an additional 68,781 shares during the period. 62.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $15.16 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.98, a current ratio of 4.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $617.44 million, a PE ratio of 17.03 and a beta of -0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.71. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $16.91.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $82.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.00 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Corporation will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is 40.45%.

Ardmore Shipping 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.