Ardmore Shipping Corporation (ASC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.09 on March 13th

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 5th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share by the shipping company on Friday, March 13th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th.

Ardmore Shipping has raised its dividend by an average of 0.4%per year over the last three years. Ardmore Shipping has a dividend payout ratio of 28.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $1.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.1%.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 1.2%

ASC stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.52. The company had a trading volume of 215,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 690,320. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 4.33 and a quick ratio of 3.98. Ardmore Shipping has a 52 week low of $8.32 and a 52 week high of $15.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.19 and a 200 day moving average of $12.06. The company has a market cap of $630.22 million, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of -0.09.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.22%.The business had revenue of $82.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore increased their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.00.

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.