Brokerages Set Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) PT at $13.67

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.6667.

A number of brokerages recently commented on ASC. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake 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 valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter valued at approximately $371,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the second quarter valued at approximately $21,019,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the second quarter worth $334,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the second quarter worth $434,000. 62.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:ASC opened at $10.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $439.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88 and a beta of -0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 4.08 and a current ratio of 4.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.41. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $8.32 and a 52-week high of $13.85.

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

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.28%.

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.