Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,120,000 shares, a decrease of 18.1% from the April 30th total of 2,590,000 shares. Currently, 5.2% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 640,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently commented on ASC shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.67.
View Our Latest Analysis on ASC
Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:ASC traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.58. The stock had a trading volume of 504,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 677,279. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $9.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.59. Ardmore Shipping has a 1-year low of $8.32 and a 1-year high of $23.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.13 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a current ratio of 4.24.
Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The firm had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Ardmore Shipping's revenue for the quarter was down 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ardmore Shipping Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.05%. Ardmore Shipping's payout ratio is currently 8.77%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping
Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,738,153 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $33,268,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,572,868 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $15,398,000 after purchasing an additional 81,361 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.2% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,487,111 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $14,559,000 after acquiring an additional 73,557 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,309,826 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $15,914,000 after acquiring an additional 63,769 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,204,828 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $14,639,000 after acquiring an additional 168,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company's stock.
About Ardmore Shipping
(
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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.
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