Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Shares Down 3.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) fell 3.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $12.61 and last traded at $12.6550. 71,400 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 614,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.67.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 4.46 and a quick ratio of 4.08. The company has a market capitalization of $522.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.01.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 11.50% and a return on equity of 6.69%. The firm had revenue of $81.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Ardmore Shipping’s revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Corporation will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 51.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ardmore Shipping by 14.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,241 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 3.9% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 40,720 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. 62.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

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.