Martingale Asset Management L P Reduces Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Corporation by 29.4%, selling 22,695 shares during the first quarter.
• Ardmore Shipping recently announced a dividend increase to $0.07 per share, which will be paid on September 12th, reflecting a dividend yield of 263.0%.
• The stock has received favorable analyst ratings, including upgrades to strong-buy by multiple firms, with an average target price of $12.67.

Martingale Asset Management L P decreased its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC - Free Report) by 29.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,594 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 22,695 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P owned 0.13% of Ardmore Shipping worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 545.0% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 3,683 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 37.4% in the fourth 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $13.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $12.67.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 0.1%

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $11.46 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $465.51 million, a P/E ratio of 11.13 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 3.56. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 1 year low of $8.32 and a 1 year high of $19.24. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $10.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.98.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The shipping company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $72.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.92 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Corporation will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping's previous dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 263.0%. Ardmore Shipping's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.42%.

Ardmore Shipping 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.

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