Short Interest in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Increases By 17.1%

Key Points

• Short interest in Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) rose 17.1% in April to 2,203,773 shares, equal to about 5.4% of shares outstanding and a days-to-cover ratio of 4.4.
• Analysts hold a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target of $17.00, including an Evercore $19 target and a recent upgrade from Wall Street Zen to "buy."
• Institutional investors own 62.22% of the stock and several funds recently increased positions, while the company reported a quarterly EPS beat ($0.28 vs. $0.27) and pays a $0.09 quarterly dividend (≈2.0% yield).

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,203,773 shares, a growth of 17.1% from the March 31st total of 1,881,877 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 500,834 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ASC. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Evercore set a $19.00 target price on Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,428,218 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $25,715,000 after purchasing an additional 20,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 6.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,749,153 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $20,762,000 after purchasing an additional 106,497 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,298,294 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $15,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,524 shares during the period. Ticino Wealth acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,647,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 7.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 496,757 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 32,347 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company's stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

NYSE:ASC opened at $17.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a current ratio of 4.33. Ardmore Shipping has a fifty-two week low of $9.18 and a fifty-two week high of $18.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.28. The company has a market capitalization of $726.03 million, a PE ratio of 20.03 and a beta of -0.14.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The firm had revenue of $82.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.00 million.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Ardmore Shipping's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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