Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Reaches New 1-Year High at $17.67

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $17.67 and last traded at $17.67, with a volume of 1139 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ASC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 1.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $717.93 million, a P/E ratio of 6.38 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.75, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.18.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 29.50%. The company had revenue of $98.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. Ardmore Shipping’s revenue was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter worth $54,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 87.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter worth $108,000. MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Finally, Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth $141,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.