Analysts Set Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Price Target at $13.67

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.6667.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,241 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 6.3% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 40,720 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 283,183 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $10.86 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.08, a current ratio of 4.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $8.32 and a 52-week high of $13.85. The company has a market capitalization of $441.13 million, a P/E ratio of 13.92 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.05 and a 200 day moving average of $11.43.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $81.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.38 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 6.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th were given a $0.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 51.28%.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.