Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) to Issue $0.05 Dividend

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) announced a dividend on Saturday, May 24th, investing.com reports. Investors 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 payout ratio of 15.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

ASC traded up $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $9.61. 233,175 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,740. The firm has a market cap of $390.19 million, a PE ratio of 3.14 and a beta of -0.02. Ardmore Shipping has a twelve month low of $8.32 and a twelve month high of $23.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.71. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 234,987 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,301,000 after buying an additional 16,458 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 31.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,769 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 18,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.