Navellier & Associates Inc. Acquires New Shares in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Navellier & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 157,157 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,202,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.39% of Ardmore Shipping as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth about $618,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter worth about $1,033,000. Flat Footed LLC bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,293,599. Marnell Management LLC bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,877,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,615,000. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

ASC stock opened at $17.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $705.85 million, a P/E ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.32. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $10.31 and a fifty-two week high of $20.02. The company has a quick ratio of 4.84, a current ratio of 5.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.07. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.67% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm had revenue of $116.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.30 million.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on ASC shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.00.

Ardmore Shipping 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.