Royce & Associates LP Raises Stock Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 24.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 830,420 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,670 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 1.98% of Ardmore Shipping worth $10,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 99,389 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,482 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 261.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 302.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ASC. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 2.1 %

ASC stock opened at $10.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $408.56 million, a P/E ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $8.83 and a twelve month high of $23.44. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.26.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. Research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.46%.

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.