Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Price Target Increased to $22.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:ASC opened at $15.88 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping has a 52 week low of $11.59 and a 52 week high of $17.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.20 and a 200 day moving average of $14.88. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $645.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.38.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.50% and a return on equity of 22.76%. The company had revenue of $98.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. Ardmore Shipping’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.29%. This is a boost from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.77%.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter worth $36,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter worth $54,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 87.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 253.8% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,621 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 3,315 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 874.3% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 5,125 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 4,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

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.