Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ardmore Shipping has a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy from five firms (2 hold, 2 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $15.00.
• Institutional investors own about 62.22% of the company, and several funds (AQR, JPMorgan, Empowered, Franklin) recently increased their stakes, indicating notable institutional accumulation.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.28 (vs. $0.27 est.) and revenue of $82.9M, trades around $15.28 with a market cap of ~$622M, and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.09 (annualized yield ~2.4%).

Shares of Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment 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. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ASC shares. Wall Street Zen raised Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Wednesday, December 24th.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,769 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 18,500 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 234,987 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,301,000 after purchasing an additional 16,458 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 311,162 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $2,987,000 after acquiring an additional 58,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,208 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 7,466 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company's stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Down 2.9%

ASC stock opened at $15.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a current ratio of 4.33. The company has a market capitalization of $622.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16 and a beta of -0.14. Ardmore Shipping has a fifty-two week low of $8.32 and a fifty-two week high of $16.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.63 and a 200-day moving average of $12.83.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.00 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.22%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Ardmore Shipping's dividend payout ratio is 40.45%.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.

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