Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Price Target Raised to $21.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) had its price objective hoisted by Jefferies Financial Group from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

NYSE ASC opened at $20.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $822.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 3.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.28. Ardmore Shipping has a 1 year low of $11.59 and a 1 year high of $20.52.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $106.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.46 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 29.50%. The company’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 worth $8,551,000 after buying an additional 205,245 shares in the last quarter. Glenorchy Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,081,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,816,000 after acquiring an additional 134,233 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,170,000. Finally, Tejara Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,171,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

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.