Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Holdings Raised by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC - Free Report) by 24.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,413,554 shares of the shipping company's stock after buying an additional 279,403 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 3.49% of Ardmore Shipping worth $17,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 25,570 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in 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. Quarry LP grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,890 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 302.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC traded down $0.04 on Thursday, hitting $9.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 313,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 676,836. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 12 month low of $8.32 and a 12 month high of $23.16. The company has a market capitalization of $392.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.16 and a beta of -0.02. The stock's 50-day moving average is $9.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.61. 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 data on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.04 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ASC. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Fearnley Fonds raised Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.67.

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.