Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $15.00.

ASC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore increased their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

NYSE ASC opened at $14.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.98, a current ratio of 4.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $605.85 million, a PE ratio of 16.76 and a beta of -0.09. Ardmore Shipping has a 52 week low of $8.32 and a 52 week high of $14.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.96.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.00 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.02%. Research analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.94%.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ticino Wealth bought a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter valued at $7,647,000. Marnell Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter worth $3,877,000. Moore Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter valued at $3,177,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 848.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 324,295 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,849,000 after buying an additional 290,087 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth about $1,947,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.