Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Declares Dividend of $0.05

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) announced a dividend on Saturday, May 24th, investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the shipping company on Friday, June 13th. This represents a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th.

Ardmore Shipping has a dividend payout ratio of 15.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $1.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.5%.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 4.4%

ASC stock traded down $0.44 on Wednesday, reaching $9.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 843,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,220. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.71. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $23.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a current ratio of 4.24. The firm has a market cap of $385.32 million, a PE ratio of 3.10 and a beta of -0.02.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $43.04 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 32.78%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 234,987 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $2,301,000 after buying an additional 16,458 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 31.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,769 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 18,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ASC shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Fearnley Fonds raised Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.67.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.