Quantinno Capital Management LP Purchases 55,888 Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) by 43.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 184,844 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,888 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $2,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,219 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% in the 1st 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 period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 361,658 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,830,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Glenorchy Capital Ltd grew its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Glenorchy Capital Ltd now owns 127,072 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 63,864 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of ASC stock opened at $16.74 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $681.70 million, a P/E ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.03. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 1 year low of $10.17 and a 1 year high of $20.02. The company has a current ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 4.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.80.

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

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.9%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 60.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Curtis B. Mcwilliams sold 16,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 60,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,842.74. This represents a 21.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kirsi Tikka sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.93, for a total transaction of $227,160.00. Following the sale, the director owned 35,471 shares in the company, valued at $671,466.03. This represents a 25.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 32,000 shares of company stock worth $613,488 in the last 90 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ASC. Weiss Ratings raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.