Fearnley Fonds Upgrades Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) to "Strong-Buy"

Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, May 6th,Zacks.com reports.

ASC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.67.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 263,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 699,689. The company has a market cap of $398.52 million, a P/E ratio of 3.21 and a beta of -0.02. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $9.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.98. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $23.44. 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 posted its 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 business had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $43.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Ardmore Shipping's payout ratio is 8.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ardmore Shipping

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 3.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,458 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 25,570 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 3.2% in the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 39,202 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,010 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,252 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.