Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Lifted to “Hold” at Fearnley Fonds

Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $24.67.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

NYSE:ASC opened at $18.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $735.15 million, a P/E ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.31. Ardmore Shipping has a twelve month low of $11.78 and a twelve month high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 24.26%. The business had revenue of $121.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.51 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.40%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 58.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 31,330 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 2,886 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,816,000 after acquiring an additional 134,233 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter valued at about $166,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.