Curtis Mcwilliams Sells 16,277 Shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Stock

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Director Curtis Mcwilliams sold 16,277 shares of Ardmore Shipping stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.38, for a total transaction of $315,448.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 60,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,842.74. This trade represents a 21.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of ASC opened at $19.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $800.30 million, a PE ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 4.87 and a quick ratio of 4.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.37 and a 200-day moving average of $13.94. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a one year low of $9.18 and a one year high of $20.02.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 EPS 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 net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 9.63%.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 27.07%.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 93.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 139,639 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,129,000 after purchasing an additional 67,473 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 43.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 184,844 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 55,888 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,736,632 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,484,000 after purchasing an additional 266,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 305,706 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,662,000 after purchasing an additional 32,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ASC shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Evercore set a $19.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

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.