Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Director Sells $227,160.00 in Stock

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Director Kirsi Tikka sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.93, for a total transaction of $227,160.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 35,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,466.03. This represents a 25.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $18.94 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 52-week low of $9.18 and a 52-week high of $20.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.17 and a 200-day moving average of $13.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $771.30 million, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 9.63%. The company had revenue of $87.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.08 million.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.2%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,219 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 worth $242,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,047 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $3,830,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenorchy Capital Ltd lifted 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 worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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