Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Stock Price Up 8.5%

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) shot up 8.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $19.12 and last traded at $19.10. 350,835 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 613,349 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.36 and a 200 day moving average of $15.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $825.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 30.77%.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 606,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,551,000 after buying an additional 205,245 shares in the last quarter. Glenorchy Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter worth $2,081,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,816,000 after purchasing an additional 134,233 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth about $2,170,000. Finally, Tejara Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter worth about $1,171,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.