Federated Hermes Inc. Has $5.60 Million Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 460,825 shares of the shipping company's stock after buying an additional 44,964 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 1.10% of Ardmore Shipping worth $5,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 255.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 465,777 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $5,659,000 after buying an additional 334,704 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Ardmore Shipping by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,467 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 7,010 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 301.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 58,431 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 43,862 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 406.6% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 97,836 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 78,524 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 261.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ASC traded up $0.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $9.09. The company had a trading volume of 110,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,651. The stock has a market capitalization of $367.61 million, a PE ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.16. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $8.32 and a twelve month high of $23.44. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.00.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Ardmore Shipping's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.46%.

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.