Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Trading Down 5% – Here’s Why

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) fell 5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $15.19 and last traded at $15.1940. Approximately 74,227 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 698,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASC. Evercore set a $19.00 price target on Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.87, a quick ratio of 4.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $609.93 million, a P/E ratio of 11.27 and a beta of 0.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.98.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $87.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.08 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 18.00%.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is 117.29%.

Insider Activity at Ardmore Shipping

In related news, Director Kirsi Tikka sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.93, for a total transaction of $227,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 35,471 shares in the company, valued at $671,466.03. This represents a 25.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Bart B. Kelleher sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.07, for a total transaction of $152,560.00. Following the transaction, the president owned 60,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,144,943.73. This represents a 11.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $766,048.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ASC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,452,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $37,399,000 after acquiring an additional 24,244 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 18.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,736,632 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,484,000 after purchasing an additional 266,275 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,298,294 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $15,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,524 shares in the last quarter. Ticino Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,647,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 7.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 496,757 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 32,347 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Company 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.